One Man's Life
by Jay2658
Summary: How did I end up in Birmingham? What happened at the bridge? What do I do now? What happened to the group after they ended Zakhaev on that bridge in Russia, did anyone else on the team make it? How will Anchor cope with what he's lost and how will everything now be different (Sequal to One Man's War)
1. Chapter 1 Hazed

Hazed

**I hope you enjoyed one man's war, this is the direct sequel I've actually had this chapter written for about six months now just waiting to be used. I hope you enjoy the story and please read One Man's War for some context on what is happening at this point also please leave a review telling me what you thought and how it could be improved. I don't own COD but I do own my characters .**

I was confused as I came too in a hospital bed in Birmingham, back in the UK. How? I was in Russia not moments before how did this happen? I had a million and one questions to ask but there was no one around me, no doctors, no nurses and no other patients. It was like a bloody ghost story, fucking I am Legend shit or something, I felt like at any second some zombie fucking vampire thing was going to jump out and kill me.

As I laid in the bed I couldn't move obviously the grenade blast had jarred my back enough to stop me from moving. I looked at the ceiling waiting for someone to come in, I moved my arms my forearms had some new lovely scars running down them like daggers from the shrapnel but atleast my fingers looked pretty intact. I looked at my tattoo which ran down my lower right arm it seemed in pretty good nick but my left arm had a large scar in the general area that the tattoo was I'm so luckily I'm right handed.

I could hear the street outside bustling like an English city normally is but I felt really detached being in the hospital. I must have been awake for an hour of two when a nurse came in to see how I was.

"You're awake," She said sounding surprised.

"Where am I?" I asked her as she checked the monitor next to me, I couldn't really turn my head much as I was pretty restrained.

"Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, West Midlands, England," She replied as she looked down at me in the bed, her long brown hair tied up behind her head and her piercing blue eyes looked at me with almost pity.

"What happened?" I asked her as she looked me up and down checking my right leg.

"Erm….. I'm not the person you should ask," She simply replied.

"Where's Soap and Price….. Griggs…. And Gaz… Oh fuck!" I shouted as I remembered Gaz and Griggs had been killed by Zachaev in Russia. As I laid there nearly sobbing to myself two soldiers armed with their SA-80s came into the room accompanying a doctor clad in his white coat and he even had a nice pair of glasses on.

"How are you doing?" The doctor asked me calmly as he waved off the soldiers.

I just stared at the ceiling waiting to compose myself, "What happened?" I asked him as I looked up at the ceiling which had some shitty faded cream white paint on it.

"From what I gather you were on an operation in Russia, you were compromised and from then on you stepped on a grenade," The doctor then paused, I had a feeling about what he was going to say, "I'm sorry," He told me as he placed his hand on the rail on the edge of my bed, "We couldn't save your right leg, we had to amputate," as he spoke those words my heart sank deep into my chest, sure when I was a marine in Afghanistan we joked about losing a leg, losing an arm or even losing your life but to actually have it happen. I just couldn't describe the feeling.

"Well what now?" I asked the doctor with a tears filling up my eyes.

"That my friend is up to you," He told me as he then placed his hand on my shoulder, "You can either, sit and wallow in your own self-pity," He paused again, "Or you could get your arse up out of the bed and prove that you've been downed but your still going to get on with your life," He told me with an ear to ear smile.

He ripped the thing holding my head in place off and I could look around, I was afraid to look down at my leg, I just turned my head to look at the doctor, "How can you say things will be alright?" I asked him on the brink of tears.

"Because I was once you, I didn't believe it either but trust me mate, it gets easier," he told me in his obviously non doctoring voice as it sounded slightly West Country with a mix of welsh. As he walked out of the door I could see a metal rod with a plastic foot attached detruding from under his lab coat.

Two Weeks later.

I was up and out of the bed all be it in a wheel chair, it was great I had my freedom again like I could go anywhere, atleast anywhere Ashley could wheel me. I felt bad that she had to continually wheel me around like some kind of sick puppy but she didn't seem to mine. Although occasionally I would wheel myself around just so she would have too.

She never looked down on me the whole time I was in that wheelchair, well figuratively speaking, as I was at her chest level. Not a bad place to be. I kept up the rehabilitation stuff and even managed to get on a sports team in the rehab centre.

Timmy tennis, I had now found my game, it was fun and the lads who surrounded me were all service men and women who had lost their limbs fighting for queen and country. We all became close; I even managed to rope Ashley into playing a game or two in that week.

On the Friday night when Ashley was wheeling me back to my bed she was explaining about her life in Surrey, it was very normal she thought about normal things, like the bills, family and love. It was so alien to me how things in the civilian world actually affected people. When we arrived back on my new ward, which actually had people on it I think the government finally figured out I wasn't going to talk about anything that had happened and deemed me safe, I was helped into my bed. Well helped meaning Ashley held the wheel chair in place while I lifted myself in.

When I was comfortable and sat nicely in my bed the doctor who had been treating me, Dr. Eric Smith, came into the room. He was holding an envelope which had a red wax seal on it.

"I don't like the looks of that," I said to Ashley as the doctor made his way over to me with the envelope clutched in his hands tightly like it was of the utmost importance.

"Sgt. Jacks, I have a letter for you," He told me as he simply placed it in my hands and walked away as if he knew what it contained.

I looked at the thickened paper on the envelope it was decorated with a few official markings and on the top right hand corner above the address it had the return address of the base at Credenhill. I looked at the thick red wax on the front it had been imprinted by an SAS imprint I could clearly see the winged dagger with who dares wins at the bottom. I tried to pick off the seal with my nails but I didn't have any which made getting through the seal very difficult.

I looked over to Ashley, "Can I borrow your nails?" She looked just as intrigued as me about the letters contents, I gave her the letter and she effortlessly picked the wax clean off the envelope giving both the envelope and the wax back to me.

I slowly started to pull the letter from the envelope it too was printed on the most expensive piece of paper I think I've ever had my hands on it had a large British army crest in the top left corner and a small SAS badge below it to the right of that was all my soldier information like my number, name, rank, platoon and company. I slid it out further to unveil the A4 sized piece of paper folded over twice cutting it into thirds.

I unfolded the paper and revealed a brief set of words which made my heart sink into a pit of despair the likes of which I had never felt.

Sgt Arthur Jacks,

I can regrettably inform you that you are being medically discharged from her majesties armed forces under grounds of ill fit for service. However due to your outstanding contribution to the crown, the army is continuing to provide funds for your treatment,

Yours faithfully, Major Alistair MacMillan.

"What does it say?" Ashley asked me as I looked down at the piece of paper in front of me feeling a tear roll down my face.

"I've…. I've….. Been booted for my leg," I told her as I wiped the tear from my face and looked at her.

"I'm so sorry, Jacks," She told me as she grabbed my hand placing it in her warm comforting hands, "Is there anything I ca do?" She then asked as I just kept looking at the piece of paper expecting its words to change.

"Get me a phone please," I said to her calmly. She didn't ask why? She just did it for me, about two minutes later she returned with a small black cordless phone.

She gently handed it to me and then asked, "Do you want some privacy?"

I shook my head and simply dialled in the number which I knew all too well but had not used in months, maybe even years. I waited for the dialling tone to go through and eventually after what seemed like minutes I heard the other end get picked up. "Hello, who is this?" A female voice echoed down the phone piercing my soul with the comforting sound.

"Hey Mum, it's me Arthur," I said into the mouth piece calmly.

"Oh my god, Arthur, are you okay?" She replied frantically, I couldn't blame her I hadn't spoken or seen her in about a year ever since I signed up for the SAS, it was the day I had signed the papers for selection was the day I last spoke to her.

"No… I'm really not okay," I told her as I started welling up, Ashley passed me a tissue so I could wipe my face but it felt like it was too late.

"Why? What's wrong? Where are you? Are you even in the country?" She then asked sounded more and more frantic.

"Calm down," I simply told her, pausing realising how much I sounded like teenage me growing up in Essex. "I'm in Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, I want you to come down," I said to her as I calmed my body through awaiting her response.

"Yes, I'll get your sister to drive we'll be there by morning." She told me sounding almost excited.

"Okay mum, I'll see you soon okay?" I told her quietly.

"Yes, we'll get there as soon as possible," She then told me as I could hear her talking to my sister in the background.

"Okay, well I love you and I'll see you soon," I uttered as I almost completely let my emotions roar.

"Okay, see you soon, I love you too, bye," She replied as the phone hung up.

"Are you finished?" Ashley asked as I wiped my eyes clear again. I just nodded at her as I gave her back the phone which she ran off to where she found it. I looked back at the piece of paper but just as Ashley came back I slipped it back into its envelope she had been gone maybe ten seconds. I placed the envelope behind my pillow and then moved my leg over the edge of the bed so I was sitting facing Ashley who was stood up in front of me.

"Well don't just stand there," I told her jokingly moving my head to the side gesturing that she should sit on my bed with me.

"Oh okay," she laughed as she tucked the hair on the right side of her face away and pulled herself up onto the bed next to me. "So that was your mother?" She then asked me as I looked over to the clock, it was almost eleven pm.

"Yeah it was," I replied as I looked down at her legs and then at mine it just looked odd seeing three legs and not four.

"How long has it been since you last saw her?" She then asked.

"You are an inquisitive person aren't you?" I asked her but I didn't expect an answer she just blushed, "It's been about a year, I joined the regiment and then we pretty much stopped talking, I just think she was afraid of something like this happening. She was right to be."

"No she wasn't, you shouldn't block people out just because they're doing something that you disagree with and besides your taking it rather well, I think," she then told me.

"So when do you clock off?" I asked her thinking that it was getting late for a nurse to still be in the hospital.

"An hour ago," She told me, "I had to beat you at tennis first, and I don't know why I'm still here to be honest," She told me as she looked down at her legs and placed her hands in her lap.

"Well in that case what do we have around here for fun?" I asked her as she simply looked at me with a grin on her face. She scampered off into the office where she had retrieved the phone from and after a few minutes of her scuffling around she came back with a small cardboard box. "Now what have you got there?" I asked her as she came back clutching it like her life depended on it.

"Chess," She told me excitably.

"Chess are you being serious?" I asked her as she opened the box and laid the board on the bed next to me and then sat next to the board.

"Why not are you afraid of losing?" She then asked me as she gave me a snarky grin on her face.

"I accompanied and learned my trade off one of the best officers I have ever know you don't have a chance against the strategy he taught me," I laughed at her as we started to arrange our pieces on the board, I hadn't ever really played chess before, I knew the pawns went at the front but after that I was completely looking at what Ashley was doing.

About two and a half hours later I had lost three games straight, and I was no closer to winning in every game, I was enjoying every minute of it however. We were just setting up the pieces for a fourth game when the doctor came into the room bearing his white lab coat and had a clipboard in one hand.

"Sergeant, you have a visitor," He told me as I heard the clicking of heels behind him down the hallway where I knew the reception was.

"Ah good," I replied to him as Ashley shot up from the bed firing the chess pieces everywhere.

"We could have still played that," I laughed at her as she turned bright red in the face moments later a small statured woman walked into the room her shoes were newly polished her trousers marks on them from a day at work and her shirt did not scream of her wealth but as soon as she looked at me her expression became one of relief but also sorrow. I could feel myself welling up inside like I was going to boil over, I could see a lone tear rolling down Ashley's face but the woman showed no signs of tears she just stood there. I decided to speak first.

"Hello Mum."

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter, the first of many I hope I know where I'm going in this story now there is a plotline I am going to explore but please leave a review telling me what you thought of the story and how I could improve it further I really do like the feedback anyway until next time ….PEACE!**


	2. Chapter 2 Visiting Hours

Visiting Hours

**I have another chapter! Yeah it took a very very very very very long time for me to actually finish this :/ I had major writers block. But it's out now I know this isn't very action packed but there needs to be some back story for now. I will get onto further things later. Anyway I hope you enjoy the chapter, and as always I don't own COD but I do own my characters.**

"My god!" My mum shouted as I sat upright with Ashley stood next to me.

"Mrs Jacks, I know it's a lot to take in right now but we can sort out accommodation and you two can catch up later you are both probably tired," The doctor told her it sounded as if he was speaking from a script.

"No I'm alright," She stuttered as she stepped closer to me I held out my hand as she approached ready to hold her but when she placed her hand in mine I realised she wasn't coming any closer than she was.

"Mum, I'm okay you can touch me you know," I told her as she just kept looking at the area where my leg was.

"No you're not how can you say any of this is okay?" She shouted at me before she turned her back burying her head in my sister's, who had just entered the room, shoulder. The two of them started to sob. I just sat there at stared at them with a blank look on my face.

"How did this even happen?" My sister asked me.

"I…. I can't tell you," I told them causing my sister to recoil back, I knew what was about to happen.

"Why the fuck not?!" She shouted at me causing Ashley to shake a bit as she did.

"Do you know what I've been doing for a year since you lot cut me the fuck off?" I asked her as I tried to pull myself forward but it couldn't really I must have just looked a bit pathetic.

"I suppose you think that we should give you a hero's welcome back to us, knowing that you just up and left not giving us a single choice in what happened to you and now we get a call in the middle of the night and we come here to find you in the hospital with one leg, yeah it's not a good night for us," my sister exploded at me as I sat on the bed with Ashley still shaking next to me not liking being caught in the free fire zone.

"What do you want from me?" I asked her as she actually stepped closer to me and looked me in the face holding the hand that I offered to my mum.

"I want my brother back."

"And I want my son."

"I can't promise you anything right now, but tomorrow I'm going to get my legs sized up, do you want to come along and we can try and make amends even if it's just a start?" I asked them whilst I looked at Ashley.

"That sounds good," My sister told me who was now pretty much talking for my mum.

"Shall I show you to your accommodation?" The doctor told them, they both simply nodded as he walked them off.

"I should probably head home," Ashley told me as she went into the office and grabbed her coat.

"I'm sorry about that," I told her as I attempted to lay down.

"Don't worry, I'm glad I was there for you," She told me with a smile as she helped me lay down properly in my bed. "I'll see you tomorrow," She told me as she left the ward and turned off the lights.

I laid in bed just waiting for myself to fall asleep but I could only be thinking about her smile and how much I liked it.

I woke up at seven thirty, and looked around the ward and the night nurse was on her final rounds after about ten minutes of me being awake she came into my ward, "You're up early," She smiled at me as she checked everything I just nodded at her, "Do you want me to get your family?" She then asked me.

"Nah, let them sleep but I could do with some breakfast," I replied to her as I sat upright in the bed.

"That's fine what do you want?" She asked me as I looked around the room and there was still no one there, I was still on my own private ward.

"Waffles and maple syrup, if you have any?" I asked her with a massive ear to ear grin across my face.

"Sure we have those," She told me returning the smile.

As she left the room and left me by myself I heard a door open on the other side of the ward where the office was. "Good morning," A familiar female voice echoed through the ward.

"Ashley?" I asked out, as I heard the door open up and the two nurses came in.

"Here's your waffles," the night nurse told me as she set the plate down on the bed and turned to look at Ashley, "Can you take it from here?" She then asked her.

"Yeah I will be fine," Ashley replied with a large grin on her face.

"Good, I'm shattered," The night nurse told Ashley as she walked out of the room.

Ashley laughed as she walked across to me, "So your leg fitting is at twelve, what do you want to do until then?" She asked me as I scoffed down the waffles.

I just about managed to swallow the mass of mashed waffle and maple syrup before I opened my gob to speak, "fresh air, now!" I almost demanded with a smile on my face and syrup dripping down my chin, which I wiped off with the sleeve on my hospital cloth. As I did Ashley bought me my wheelchair which I lowered myself into.

I started to roll myself with my hands. We walked slowly over to the door which led to the gymnasium and the outdoor quad, as we reached the first door Ashley held it open for me and I wheeled through giving me a smile as I did.

When we wheeled past the gym I spotted a soldier I knew walking down the hallway towards me, he was Hamish O'Leary a young Lance Corporal from the Irish Guards, he had lost his leg doing UN work in Africa but it was the first time I had seen him with his prosthetic on. It gave me hope. As he approached, I gave him the standard upwards nod to say hello and he did the same, he had a sense of humour not many could compete with but his main goal from my point of view was to take the piss out of me as much as possible.

When we reached the door leading out to the quad I held out my good leg and rolled myself forwards opening a door by myself for the first time since I woke up in the hospital two weeks ago. I could instantly feel the cold winter air around my skin it felt good, I felt free for the first time since the accident.

"Do you wanna sit down?" I asked Ashley as she stood next to me.

She looked down at me I could see her shivering, "I'm okay," She told me I could see the condensation pouring out of her mouth she was getting very cold so I looked around seeing there was a bench just in the atrium that we had just come out of.

"Let's go back in there, I don't want you freezing to death," I told her with a chuckle, I wheeled myself over to the door which unluckily for me was a pull door, "Can you get the door please I can't do pull doors yet," I told her whilst smiling.

""Sure," She laughed as She opened the door and we went inside I wheeled myself up to the bench and pulled up next to it, Ashley sat on the bench with her hands on her knees, her nurses uniform perfectly pressed and cleaned. "So are you nervous about today?" She asked me as she looked at me.

"Not really, I'm actually really excited," I told her as I looked down at my stump, which was almost fully healed now it only had a small stitched opening at the end which was healing over gradually.

"You do realise getting your legs back will be a long process right, you won't be walking by the end of today, right?" She told me as I continued to look at my stump.

I nodded knowing full well that it would be a long process in being able to walk again, "Yeah I know, I was a soldier, I'm not that naïve," I replied as I slowly looked up at her but I was confident I wanted it.

"You'd be surprised a lot of guys come in here thinking they'll be up fighting within a week of losing their arm or their leg," She told me, making me realise that I wasn't the first soldier that she'd treated nor would I be the last.

"Do you give every soldier this much attention?" I asked her sounding like an over protective boyfriend.

"What do you mean?" She replied looking confused.

"I mean do you always treat soldiers like you're treating me?" I asked her sternly.

"I have to be nice it's my job," She shot back.

"Yeah," I told her.

"Why does it bother you that I've cared for other soldiers?" She asked me as I kept looking at my leg.

"What? No….. No…." I paused while I looked down at my leg holding onto my stump.

"Really?" She asked me as she looked down at my stump too.

"Well…." I started but as soon as I did I heard someone call out from down the hallway.

"Sergeant Jacks?" I heard the Doctor shout as I heard numerous footsteps afterwards.

"I'm down here," I returned as I heard the footsteps get closer.

"Ah there you are," He then told me as he came around the corner followed by my mum and sister.

"Arthur," My mum whispered as she came over and hugged me tightly atleast now she could actually touch me. I embraced her back as she hugged me tighter and tighter.

"So am I forgiven?" I asked them as my sister came and held my hand.

"You can make a start…" My sister began, "By when we get home you can make me some bloody pancakes, I aven't ad them in ages."

I looked at her after my mum was done, "Alright then," I nodded at her. I waited for a few moment before looking up at the doctor who had a large grin on his face, "So what's that beam about?" I asked him.

"Well Sergeant, I have good news," He told me as he held out a slip of paper, "It's your leg appointment. It's been moved forward by two hours, so if I were you I'd get out of these clothes and in your fatigues."

"That's great," I almost shouted with joy as I tried to stand up.

"Woah!" Everyone shouted in unison as my mum and Ashley tried to sit me down in my chair.

"Just get back, in the chair hotshot," Ashley told me as she sat me down.

"What's the time?" I asked everyone as I finally sat in the chair.

"Nine thirty, so I'd get your arse in gear," The doctor told me as I started to wheel myself off.

"I will do Sir," I told him as I sped off to the ward but I had the problem again, doors. "Erm Ashley can I have a hand?" I asked before hearing the sound of her gripped nurse's shoes squeaking along the floor.

"I'll give you a hand," She told me as she opened the door to let me onto the ward.

"Can you give me a hand with the uniform?" I asked her.

"Erm yeah," She simply responded as she blushed.

When we made our way onto the ward I saw that my uniform was neatly laid out on my bed even with the beige beret. I grabbed the trousers and realised that they had a pair of boxers underneath that I hadn't seen since I was in basic training in the Marines.

I picked up the boxers and then slid them on quickly, realising it wouldn't be that hard to get dressed. I slid the trousers over the boxers and pulled the shirt on. "I guess I didn't need help," I said to Ashley who was just stood at the corner of my bed looking shyly in the other direction. "Right let's get to it shall we?" I asked her.

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I hope you are enjoying the story so far. I don't know how long it will take for me to get the next chapter out but there will be more but anyway please feel free to review and tell me what you thought and how the story could be improved. But until next time… PEACE!**


	3. Chapter 3 Getting a Leg Up

Getting A Leg Up

**I hope you've been enjoying the story thus far I aim to get this story going more and more over the next few weeks but I can't make promises with exam season rapidly approaching :/ anyway on with the story hopefully it can be updated regularly I don't own COD but I do own my characters.**

As I wheeled myself into the doctor's office, who would be getting my new leg sized up, I looked to my left and right seeing the people who surrounded me all there for me willing me to get better. Ashley opened the door to the office, shuttling me and my family inside.

"Are you coming inside?" I asked her as she stood at the door.

She just shook her head at me and said, "No I can't I'll come find you after," She had a grin across her face which told me I hadn't actually annoyed her earlier.

"Ah okay, maybe we can all go get lunch together," I asked her with a grin.

"That sounds good to me," She replied with a smile. She closed the door behind herself and I turned to see the doctor with my mum and sister. They were sat talking about something but as I turned they instantly stopped and looked at me.

The doctor stood up and held out his had to me, "Sergeant Jacks," he told me with a smile.

"Doc?" I asked him.

"Colonel actually, Colonel Adams RAMC," he told me as he opened his lab coat and showed off his colonel crown and baths.

"Ah sorry Sir, I didn't know," I replied apologetically.

"It's fine sergeant, for the record this wasn't my first choice of locations either, but the damn brass thought it was a good idea," he almost whispered to me resentful of the top brass, "But now onto why you're here, let's size up your leg shall we?" He got down next to me and inspected my leg, poking and pulling at the stump. "Ah well you seem to be healing up well, so hopefully we can size you up and get onto the ones we have here."

"Let's get to it," I smiled as I lifted my stump up, I looked over to my mum and sister who were also smiling too.

"Okay then," The Colonel told me as he pulled a tape measure out of his desk, he wrapped it around the top of my leg, "Okay that's 395mm at the knee," He told me as he then wrapped it around the remainder of my calf. "And that's 505mm around the widest part of your calf."

I looked at the colonel as he entered the numbers into a log sheet which he then looked up at me as I rubbed the end of my stump. "So can I try some on?" I asked him.

"Let's get them out then," He replied with a grin on his face. He walked over to a large metal locker on the far wall of the office, as he opened it I saw a large number of prosthetics which the Colonel looked over eventually pulling out one pink leg with a foot at the bottom and a running blade.

As he walked back over to his seat and sat down he passed me the pink leg, it had an array of straps and buckles inside. I slid the plastic pink calf replacement over my leg and the Colonel buckled it up for me, "So how does it feel?" He asked me.

"Tight," I replied whilst looking at the uncomfortable contraption.

"Well if it wasn't then it would fall off, so do you want to try and stand?" He then asked he as he stood up and held out his hand towards me.

"Yes!" I almost shouted at him, as I placed my hand around his wrist and he pulled me up and I was standing for about ten seconds. I had lost a lot of my muscle mass in the time that I had been hospitalised but as the Colonel pulled me back upright and I actually managed to stand upright.

My mum started to cry as I stood up and looked at her, "This is great," I told the Colonel as I placed my hands on the desk and attempted a step forwards but as my weight went into the prosthetic I caved luckily the Colonel was there to prop me up. "Cheers."

"It's alright maybe you should wait until you get your own before you actually walk," He told me as I looked at the prosthetic. "Do you want to try the blade?"

"Yeah, go on then," I told him as I unbuckled the pink leg myself. The Colonel just nodded and placed the Blade over my stump and buckled that up too. I was then pulled upright again but this time it was very lop sided, "This really is weird," I told him as I looked at the Colonel.

"Yeah it will do but yours will be custom fitted to your leg height, so you won't stand like a cock eyed chicken," He told me as he wrote something down on a piece of paper.

"I hope no I wanna get back out running," I said to him joyfully, "I'm turning into a chubby fucker in this chair," I told him as I looked at his paper. It had the usual doctor's chicken scratch on it I couldn't read any of it so I didn't even attempt to look closer at it.

"Haven't they given you any crutches yet?" He then asked me sounding concerned.

"No not yet," I told him, he didn't reply he just got up and walked over to the metal cupboard again. I just unclipped the leg from my stump causing it to clang against the floor, as it did the colonel stepped in front of me and passed me a set of metal crutches. I looked up at his face and smiled. "Thank you, Sir."

"Don't thank me on your arse," He told me as he held out his hand, "tell me on the feet god gave you." I took his hand and placed the crutches under my arms, I was pulled up being able to look the Colonel right in his eyes, his beret was sat proudly on his desk which he scrambled to put on his head. I raised my hand in a salute.

"Thank you Sir," I said as I saluted.

"Not a problem Sergeant," He replied as he returned the salute. "I think our time is up," The Colonel told me with a grin on his face, "your legs should be ready in about three weeks, but we'll tell you when they are."

"Roger that, Sir," I replied as I looked back at my mum and sister.

My mum stood up and shook the hand of the Colonel and said, "Thank you so much," She told him as my sister walked over to the door and opened it. I made my first shaky steps across the room towards the door.

We all moved out of the door and my sister closed it behind me. I looked down the hallway and saw Ashley was back in her office filing paper; I hopped down towards the office and knocked my crutch on the door.

"Who is it?" she asked as she opened the door.

"Sergeant Jacks," I shouted as the door swung open.

"How was your leg fitting?" She asked looking down expecting me to be in my chair.

"Well you can see for yourself," I told her as she looked up actually being able to look me in the face.

"Woah!" She shouted as she took a step backwards.

"Do you have any safety pins?" I asked her as she continued to look me up and down.

"Yeah sure, come in," She told me as she walked back inside the office and pulled open her draws. "What do you need safety pins for?" she asked me as she pulled the pins out of the draw.

I lifted up my stump which had the trailing leg of my combat trousers, "it's a tad long."

"Do you want me to attach it?" She asked me.

"That would be nice," I told her with a smile. She started to pin the leg on my trousers back up, after she put one pin in but when she went to put the second one in I shouted loudly.

"What?" She jumped up as I laughed at her.

"Got you," I told her so she pricked me in the back of the leg, "Ah fucker," I shouted as she attached the leg of my trouser to the thigh of my trousers.

"Got you back," She told me as I hopped around and looked at her, "I didn't realise you were that tall," She told me shyly.

"I'm sorry about earlier," I said to her quietly, "When do you clock off for lunch?" I asked her.

"At twelve," She replied in dismay.

"Damn, my mum and sister were planning on going exploring the city for a bit and I wanted you to come," I told her.

"Well maybe I can figure something out," She shot back with a smile as she dove into the draws again and pulled out a piece of paper, she started ticking away at the boxes and then gave it to me, "Sign the dotted line at the bottom," She smiled at me.

"What does this mean?" I asked her as I signed the bottom of the piece of paper.

"It's a waver meaning that you have requested me to escort you around the city," She told me with a grin on her face. She posted the piece of paper into the doctors pigeon hole and grabbed her coat off the chair.

"Shall we?" I asked her as I hobbled across the office towards the door and pushed it with one of my hands.

"Sounds good to me," She replied as she donned her long black coat and led me out of the door. My mum and sister were sat at the end of the corridor waiting for me but as I approached with Ashley they both stood up.

"Hi, sorry I didn't introduce myself, I'm Sarah," My mum said as she shook Ashley's hand, "This is my daughter, Eve," My mum looked over at my sister who was sat as per usual on her phone.

"Hi, I'm Ashley, I am your son's nurse," She smiled as she looked my mother in the face.

"Well now we're introduced can we move on? I'm hungry," I asked as I started hobbling off down the corridor towards the outside world. "Come on we don't have all day."

"Alright, alright we're coming," My mum said as she I heard her walking down the corridor towards me.

After about twenty minutes of walking we came across a small café on the corner of an alley way somewhere in Birmingham. The city was pretty much almost dead during a week day afternoon, so we had the café to ourselves.

We all sat around waiting for the waiter and all enjoyed the meal but I couldn't help but just keep my eyes focused on Ashley.

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter please feel free to review and tell me what you thought of the story and how it could be improved hopefully I will get into the bulk soon but until then…. PEACE!**


	4. Chapter 4 Getting the Legs Back

Getting the Legs Back

**Right time for another chapter in this one, I know it's been a very long time since there has been one but now it's here and hopefully I can get this story to where I want it to be. Anyway for now I hope you enjoy this reasonably long chapter for one of my stories but I hope you enjoy the chapter and as always I don't own COD, I do own Anchor.**

I woke up to the sound of someone walking down the corridor towards my ward they kept getting louder and louder, not Ashley's nurse shoes but heels clacking as they walked. 'Who the hell could that be at?" I looked down at my old wristwatch that my mother had brought me, 'Two fucking am!'

I sat up in my bed the person couldn't be for anyone else I was still on my own on the ward I kind of liked being by myself no one to ask who I was and what regiment I had come from, not that I could tell them a thing anyway. I continued to wait but the heels stopped just outside my door, I could hear two voices one was female probably the person in heels and the other was the doctor.

After a minute I heard the door fling open, only the doctor walked in however. "You have a package," He smiled at me even though there was a heated discussion from outside the room with the woman.

"Who's it from?" I asked him.

"I have no idea," He told me as he handed it to me, I looked at the brown paper wrapped object it had no return address only the address of the hospital. I continued to turn the package around.

"Have you got a knife?" I asked the doctor it had been wrapped in industrial strength paper and duct tape from NASA.

"Here," The doctor told me as he pulled a Leatherman out of his trouser pocket, I looked surprised at him, "Old habits die hard," He shrugged as I started attacking the package with the blade slashing through the paper and tape.

"Jesus who the fuck packed this?" I asked rhetorically, the package finally gave and tore open, as the insides rolled out onto my bed. I picked up the first object which still had the price tag on it £2.99 duck on a rope and the other was a wad of paper monopoly money but it was for the American version it was in dollars and all the $ had been gone over in sharpie. I didn't understand who would send these things to me.

I placed the duck on my bed post and put the money in my wallet which was in my CPU trousers. "Night Doc," I told the doctor who was done being nosey and was now on his way out of the ward.

"Night Sergeant," He replied as he wandered back to his office.

I fell back to sleep I must have only been awake for twenty minutes maximum.

I could feel the warmth of the air as I slowly opened my eyes exposing the bright almost blinding light. As I slowly climbed out of bed grabbing my crutch on the way out I hobbled over to the window and opened it causing a jet of cold air to rip into the room which almost blew my j cloth up. "Maybe I should put some trousers on," I sighed to myself.

I slowly hopped over to my bed and put on my uniform again, I looked at the door which swung open just as I slid my fly on my trousers up. "Sergeant, I have good news," The doctor told me as he pretty much flew into the room.

"Wait hold on," I paused for a second or two, "What?" I asked him as I stood up clutching my crutch for dear life.

"Your legs are ready we can get you fitted today," he told me as I hopped over to him.

"What time?" I asked him excitedly.

"Twelve," He simply replied, as he turned towards the door, "Do you want me to call your family?"

"No I want to surprise them, what hotel are they in?" I asked him.

"It's a premier inn just up the road on Kings Street," He replied as he walked out of the ward.

"When does Ashley get in?" I asked him as I held the door after he had walked out.

"Any minute now," He replied as he continued down the hallway. I looked at the large clock which hung on the wall outside my ward, it was only nine am.

I went back into my ward and looked at the duck on the rope which now took pride of place on my bed post, I still couldn't think of who would send me such things. I could hear the all too familiar squeaks of the gripped shoes. The door to my ward tentatively opened, "You're late," I told the woman as she walked in and placed her bag in the office.

"Yeah, sorry, I got caught up in traffic," She replied bashfully as I hobbled towards the office door, "Who bought you that soap thing?" She asked me.

"What soap thing?" I asked her.

"That soap on a rope," She shot back chuckling at my confusion.

"Oh, the duck, I have no idea."

As we continued to babble on about absolutely nothing, but the time was drawing in on my legs being returned to my undercarriage.

It came to about eleven forty five and I was now overcome with excitement, Ashley didn't clock on what I was so excited about until at five too the doors to my ward flew open and slammed into either side of the door frame, a slim man walked into the room followed by my doctor who had a very large brief case in his left hand. I had an ear to ear grin which everyone could see in the room as the slender man who had a grey suit on with a thick blue tie on but the thing that jumped out at me was the small shiny pin on his left lapel. As he walked closer I could actually make out what was on the pin it had the dagger of the Royal Marine Commandos.

"Sergeant Jacks," The slender man said to me as he held out his hand, "Major Patrick," His thick Irish accent accentuated his presence making him seem more massive than he actually was. He held out a piece of paper, which had been folder up twice and had been sealed with a wax stamp, I took the piece of paper and peeled off the wax which again had been stamped with a dagger.

"Why are you here?" I asked the major before unfolding the piece of paper.

"It's all in there," He replied abruptly. I unfolded the piece of paper which was almost completely covered in writing I skimmed over it but one sentence stuck out at me in particular, 'We are offering the reinstating of your contract with the Royal Marine Commandos as a training instructor at Lympstone, Devon.'

"What?" I asked the Major.

"They're offering you the chance to become a Marine again," He told me as I looked up at him from my piece of paper.

I was just stunned by what had just been offered to me, I just sat up but before I could answer the doctor came in with his brief case, "I think I can break this silence," He said as he placed his case on the bed next to me. He unbuckled the case exposing my new leg, its silvery shimmer gleamed in all its metallic glory. I looked over my new leg before the doctor unclipped it passing me the carbon fibre object. "try it on," He told me as he passed me the prosthetic which I quickly slid my leg into.

"How does it feel?" He then asked me as I twisted my knee and looked down at my new leg.

"I don't know yet," I said as I slid myself off the bed and stood proudly as I tried to keep my balance on the weird leg, "it fits good, is the other one ready?" I asked the doctor as I wondered about my blade.

"No you'll have to wait a few weeks for that one, I suggest you get walking again," He told me as I looked down at my body which had gained a few pounds since I lost my leg. I just nodded at him and then looked over to the Major. "As for your offer, I'll accept it, just as soon as I get out of here."

"I'll inform my superiors," He replied as I continued to look down at my legs whilst standing at head height of the Major and the doctor.

Ashley walked over to me as I stood up right, "so this is you at your full height," She said as I looked at her, she was a lot shorter than I thought she was but then again I'd spent the whole time looking up at her from my chair, she only stood about five foot three which was tiny compared to my six foot frame.

"This is me," I told her as everyone else left the room rather quickly once I was comfortable standing.

"You're pretty tall," She said coyly as she cleared the briefcase from my bed. She took her seat on my bed as I took my first tentative steps on my new leg, as my weight shifted onto the stump it was excruciating, I could feel the pressure of my bone pushing into the scar which ran along my leg. I cringed as I placed my foot back down and relieved my leg, "That's going to take some getting used to."

"I can imagine," Ashley laughed as I shifted again it not being so painful this time.

"Well I hope you never have to lose your leg," I told her sombrely as I sat on the window ceil with the view I had become so accustom too. It overlooked a park which had dog walkers and runners all day like these people didn't work all they did was walk dogs and run, Hey can I ask you something?" I asked as my voice cracked due to nerves.

She looked up at me with the same nerves on her face as I did, "Yeah," her voice had become quiet and softer than normal.

"I'm going to walk to the hotel which my family are staying in and I was wondering if you wanted to come and then maybe go get a coffee afterwards," I said nervously my voice constantly cracking and recoiling at my own cheesiness.

"Erm…" She began and I automatically assumed the worst, so I turned to look out of the window, "I can take my lunch in a bit if you can wait, and then I'll come with you," She said shyly as I continued to gaze out of the window, a grin slowly but surely making its way across my face whilst I felt myself palpitate furiously with nerves and adrenaline, it was worse than in contact.

I waited for about an hour in which time I put on my full uniform beret and all, "I'm ready now if you are," Ashley asked me as she entered the room with her coat on covering her nurses uniform and holding onto an old red leather bag. I looked at her placing my beret on my head with my cap badge gleaming in the hospitals shite fluorescent lights. "Wow!" She almost exclaimed as she looked at me.

"I take it you've never seen it in all its glory?" I asked her as I brushed myself down and stood tall, she just simply shook her head and continued to stare. "Shall we go?" I asked her as I held out my hand pointing towards the door. I held it open and we walked out of the hospital.

Once we were outside I looked from left to right and didn't know where the hell to go, "Where are we going to?" Ashley asked me as I continued to be confused.

"Premier Inn on Kings Street," I told her whilst still looking around.

"Okay it's this way," she told me as we walked down the road to the left away from the hospital, as we walked in silence I looked up at the hospital with its old Edwardian style windows staring down at me, I spotted the window that I sat staring out of not too long ago, it was on the second floor of the building, two stories above my head.

I kept note on Ashley's movements just so I knew when to turn, we eventually reached the other side of the park, I had received stares due to the chunk of aluminium and carbon fibre which hung beneath my leg but I didn't really care I got used to the stares back in Herefordshire so this was nothing. I could see the purple sign of the Premier Inn and we had arrived without saying a single word, it was awkward.

"So this is it?" I asked as I looked up at the four story tall building which looked like we were in a completely separate planet let alone just being on the other side of the park, the building was so modern looking and had very little indicators that we were even still in Birmingham.

"This is it," Ashley said awkwardly as I opened the door and let Ashley inside.

I walked up to the front desk and looked the manager in the eyes but he kept his gaze down at my leg, "Can I help you, sir?" He asked as he finally met my eyes.

"Sergeant," I corrected, "Can you tell me which room, Mrs Jacks is staying in, please?"

"I'm sorry I can't do that," he paused and then added, "Sergeant."

"Mum look," I heard from behind me as I felt someone rush up behind me as hug me from behind.

"Hey, little brat," I said as I swivelled around and looked at her and my mum who was almost in tears looking at me standing upright at last. I opened my arms as the two of them sprinted towards me and almost knocked me off my leg, I still didn't have balance down to a fine art by that point. I kept my balance, just, as the two of them smashed into my significantly widened frame and embraced them as a family once again.

I looked up at Ashley who was stood in the corner awkwardly looking back at me, I smiled at her and she returned it. "So you two wanna accompany us to the coffee shop on Portabello Street?" I asked as I released my family.

"Sure, hope you're paying though," My sister said to me sarcastically as I walked over to Ashley who was still stood in the corner.

"Are you ready?" I whispered to her and she just nodded discretely. "you two ready?" I then asked my mum and sister as I turned back to them.

"We just need to grab our coats," My mum told me as she and my sister went into the lift to go and retrieve their coats from their room.

I sat in the chair which Ashley stood next to taking the weight off my now thoroughly aching stump, I pulled off my leg to reveal a bruised and partially blood covered stump but before Ashley or anyone else could see I quickly stuffed the stump back inside.

I looked up at Ashley and smiled as if I didn't care about the pain, as I stood up my mum and sister came into the room again, I winced as I put my weight into my leg. I had to shift my balance to take some of the pain out of my leg, but the adrenaline was dumbing the pain down.

My mum and sister now had their matching pink coats on which I remember where the exact things they wore when they shunned me as I joined the regiment but I didn't see the point in being angry with them, I mean look where being the super soldier had gotten me, blown up, shot and now one leg down.

I just gave them a gritted smile and walked over to the door which led into the gloomy streets of Birmingham. Ashley stuck to my side like glue, she didn't say a word neither did my family for that matter, the whole experience was a lot more awkward than I had imagined when I was sitting in my hospital bed with my new leg attached.

When we arrived at the coffee shop on Portabello I started to notice strange familiar artefacts but all felt alien in this environment. By artefacts you may wonder what I mean, there was a small black boonie hat on the table in the middle of the coffee shop, a single highland accent rang through the small coffee shop it bellowed in the confined space and to top it off there was there was another man with an Essex accent in the room, just like Gaz but I couldn't pin point it.

How he died on the bridge? I questioned in confusion ignoring the conversation of my family trying to locate where my friend was but I couldn't and the conversation ended quickly after we found and empty booth in the room.

"Are you even listening to me?" My mother asked as I regained my hearing of the conversation they were having.

"Erm….Yes," I said after quite some pause.

"What did I say then?"

"Fuck knows," I replied to her still looking around the room searching for something but I couldn't pinpoint it.

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter and are enjoying the story thus far I promise I will be getting the pace up in the next few chapters and really getting the story under way **** anyway until the next time…..PEACE!**


	5. Chapter 5 Dating Game

Dating Game

**I hope you've been enjoying the story so far, I will be speeding things along in the next chapter but as for this one it's just a short one that I wanted sorting out I hope it fills in a few holes I've had in the story, 'not literally' lol. But anyway onto the story **** I hope you enjoy, and as always I don't own COD but I do own Anchor.**

The coffee with my family was incredibly awkward. However after about an hour and a half it was finally over, I was drained but looking forward to actually talking to Ashley. The rain had started to hammer down whilst I waved my mum and sister off outside the coffee shop, Ashley was stood in the doorway. I came into the shop with a soaked head and shoulders which sucked, I could feel myself steaming from the heat of the coffee shop.

"You wanna go somewhere else or stay here?" I asked Ashley as I rubbed my hair causing water to shoot everywhere.

"I'm not going out there," She joked as she shielded her face from the water, "I don't have a hood."

"Fair enough," I laughed as I pulled up a chair for Ashley at a new table with just two seats, "Let's sit shall we?" I asked her as I offered her the seat.

"Yes," she replied coyly as she sat in the seat and pulled herself in.

I sat opposite her and immediately became overcome with an almost boyish shyness, I really didn't know what to say, every time I opened my mouth I couldn't speak, my nerves had me choked. I could feel my stump throbbing from the pain of the pressure I had put on it.

"How's the leg?" She asked me as I reached down and rubbed inside my prosthetic.

"My leg's fine, the stump is a wee bit tender," I smiled at her as I stood up, "What you having?"

"If it hurts we should head back," She said as she scooped her bag up.

"No, let's stay;" I blushed slightly, "I've been looking forward to this."

She smiled and blushed, "Okay." She placed her bag on the floor and followed me up to the counter to order.

"What ya' having?" I asked her as I reached into my back pocket for my wallet.

"Erm….." She paused, "I'll have a double shot Americano," She smiled as she looked over the cheese cakes and cookies behind the counter.

"You want one?" I asked.

"Yeah I do, I'm starving," She grinned as she pointed at the large triple chocolate cookie.

"That's fine, I'm gonna get me a big ol' slice of that New York cheese cake," I smiled back at her as the person in front of us finished being served. I ordered our drinks and food, I got a coke, I hate hot drinks!

We both sat back down I carried the drinks over with the food on a tray, I was starting to feel more relaxed around Ashley, it was strange she'd seen me more vulnerable than anyone had ever seen me yet I still felt like she was someone who didn't know me like I had to tread carefully and not know what to do.

"So," Ashley began but even before she said it I knew what she was going to say, "Are you going to take the offer from the Marines?" She lost eye contact with me looking down into the mug which held her coffee.

"I probably will," I could see her face drop at me saying it, "all I've ever been is a soldier or a marine and so I don't think I could do much else, plus I don't think I'll be getting a job with only one leg." I sniggered trying to lift the mood but I knew I had blown it already.

"You could try something new," She tried to sway me.

"I don't want to, I liked being a marine and a soldier, I don't want anything else that's what I want again," I told her looking her directly in the eye.

"Fair enough," she said as she dipped her head and started to gulp down her coffee. I just looked down at my bottle and thought I've really fucked it now. We spent the remainder of the time in silence exchanging the odd stare or short gaze but not a lot more.

When we were finished we walked back to the hospital not talking and she was walking as fast as she possibly could it only took about five minutes to walk back and by the time we arrived my stump was fucked up. I sat on my bed Ashley had disappeared into the belly of the hospital. I pulled my stump off but as I did the Doc came into the room, I was dripping blood all over his floor and had almost fully lined the interior with a nice red paint.

"You should get that dressed," He said to me.

"Nah, it'll be alright," I replied as he closed the curtains on my ward.

"That wasn't a suggestion that was an order sergeant," He told me more sternly this time, "I'll get you some more trousers and some dressings for that leg," he turned to walk out of the door but stopped, "And I'll get you a mop for my damn floor!"

"Yes Sir!" I sarcastically said as the Doc left the room.

After about ten minutes the Doc acme back with the trousers and a set of dressings for my leg. Oh and a mop.

"Get your trousers off," He ordered as he lazily wandered over to me.

"That's a bit forward Doc," I laughed as I undid my belt and pulled by blooded trousers off. The Doc chuckled as he started to wrap up my leg again, his hands were cold but he had them wrapped up in blue nitrile gloves like he was handling a dangerous substance or something.

"You know she likes you right?" He randomly said to me whilst wrapping my leg he had almost finished but he still had to secure the bandage.

"Who does?"

"Don't act stupid with me sergeant, you know who I mean," he told me as he secured my bandage with MPT.

"Oh you mean Ashley?" I inferred, the Doc nodded in response, "Well I think I fucked that one," I told him as I looked out the window.

"I wouldn't be so hard on yourself, what happened?" I slid on the new pair of trousers and told the Doc what had happened, "She's new to the military man, she's treated a lot of them but never been involved with one, she doesn't understand how you can enjoy being under fire and under that much stress all the time."

"yeah I guess but it's my life," I told him as I looked at my blood stained prosthetic. I picked up the mop and started to clean it.

"Yeah I know mate, but she'll come round you just have to explain it to her, as I said it's new to her," just as he finished guess who walked into the room. He just nodded at me and walked out of the room.

"Hey," I paused as she walked to the far side of the room and checked the cupboard, she turned when I spoke, "I'm sorry about earlier."

"You don't have to apologise," She said with a stern face.

"I kinda do, you just asked me a question earlier and I got way to defensive," I told her with my head hung low.

"It's still fine," She told me with a smile this time and not the blunt expression she had given me previously. I placed my leg on and walked over to her. It took a few awkward seconds of standing next to her for me to pluck up the courage. I embraced her and she did the same to me. I could feel her burying her head in my chest. "I'm sorry," She sobbed slightly, "I just don't want to lose you, you lost a leg before what next?"

"Look," I lifted her chin up and looked her straight in the eyes, "The role I'll be doing is a purely training role, non-combatant, I won't be fighting directly." She nodded slightly, "I just don't want to let my injury define my life, I wanna live." She slightly tip toed and brought her head closer to mine, I lowered mine and gently kissed her on the lips holding her in close to me.

"I want to understand," She told me, "But it will take time."

I heard the door open behind us, causing us to release each other and take a step back. I looked at the door, it was Doc again only now he was holding an envelope and a piece of paper. "What's in the envelope? Doc," I asked as I walked over to the door.

"Probably this," He said as he held the paper up.

"What's on that then?" I asked.

"Your discharge papers."

"Okay is it immediate?" I inquired as I looked at the paper.

"Yes but luckily it's out of this ward and onto a regular one, with a month's worth of physio."

"Ah, looks like a smart way to spend a bit more time here," I smiled as I looked around the ward.

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and have been enjoying the story****. Please feel free to review and tell me what you thought and where the story should go from here but until the next time…PEACE!**

**Oh and wish me luck in the lab tomorrow, I'm playing with phosphorus and organometallics, BuLi, yay, Exprosions!**


	6. Chapter 6 Time Lapse

Time Lapse

**I hope you've been enjoying the story so far I know it's not had any action yet but this relationship really needs to be explained for my story arch to work thorough so just bear with me for a little bit, have you pieced together where I'm going or have I actually managed to keep a large enough shroud over my shoulder to stop you all knowing **** but here's the next part I hope you enjoy and as always I don't own COD but I do own Anchor.**

It took about another week for me to get enough time to go out with Ashley for a bit again, we didn't even speak about the military we just had a nice lunch at some swanky café near the centre of Birmingham, the kinda place where students and all the other people of the world seem to sit in. I actually wore normal clothes which I managed to pick up at a shop in the town centre previously. By this point my family had gone back to Essex but I was still in Birmingham for my physiotherapy, the stump hurt less to move in I guess I was getting used to it now.

I felt more at home around Ashley the instant my family went home, which made conversations flow when we were out. It went a lot better no fight no awkward silences it was great. We walked back to the hospital together and even ended up sitting and talking in the canteen until she had to get back to work.

About three days later I linked up with a set of ex-marines who were injured in an IED attack in the Middle East. We spent time reminiscing about Lymstone, when I mentioned I was returning to Lymstone they had the jealousy of school boys, once a marine always a marine. I think being booted was hard for them, they seemed to genuinely just want to get back to it, like they hadn't even been wounded. You could feel hatred towards the people that had taken away their dream and some of our fellow marines but for now I had to wait.

Another week past and I felt like I was on the way up, I had my full morale back I just wanted to push myself to the limit, I kept up my hours at the gym building my body back to where it was before I hit Lymstone as the old breed of marine.

I spent an hour alone with Ashley on Monday but I couldn't bring the balls up to make my move, I only had two weeks before I shipped back to Lymstone and I wanted to tell her how I felt but my balls were nowhere to be seen. I was living on bought time with her.

Friday of my second to last week I finally made the plunge with Ashley, I walked her to the bus after work and finally I overcame my gut and sprang on her, but it was reciprocal. It felt great it was out there in the open now and I think she was dealing with that I was going back to be a marine but a non-combatant.

It was my second to last day in physio and I wanted to spend the day with Ashley but she had agreed to take me home the night after so I could deal with just seeing the Doc and the team on getting me fit to go back to Lymstone.

The hours ticked down til' I could get to see Ashley, I was up early to hit the gym before anyone would actually be there. I liked the quiet which surrounded me for a little while before my marine mates joined me for a quick weights session, I finished the session feeling exhausted but ready for my day.

I spent the day just waiting around not actually seeing Ashley at all, I had lunch with Doc he told me to "Keep your head on a swivel, times are changing," which I didn't really get his meaning, was it about Ashley or was it about myself, personally my focus really wasn't on what we were doing.

The time eventually came it was go time for me I stood outside the office where Ashley was working, I felt like I was first in line for a static jump the same adrenaline fuelled endorphin coursed through my veins I had my bag ready over my shoulders I was just stood there waiting for the door to open so I could plunge.

At precisely five o'clock the door to the office flew open with an Ashley stood in the doorway with her satchel over her right shoulder and her colourful coat on over the top of her nursing clothes. She smiled at me as I waved at her nervously, she approached me and I hugged her tightly her coat was still wet from the walk in.

"It better not rain while we wait for the bus," I told her whilst I we continued to hug, she looked up at me grinning to which I lowered my head and she raised hers, meeting in the middle we kissed. I heard a whistle from down the hallway, when I looked up I realised it was one of the marines who gave me a wink and then continued on his way.

"It shouldn't do," Ashley smiled and then looked where the marine had been, "what was that about?" She asked me as I took her hand and started to walk towards the exit of the hospital.

"He was making fun of my situation, not many marines get classy girls," I told her which made her cheeks suddenly turn a bright red. I decided to shut up for now until we reached the bus stop. There was very little conversation but once we got on the bus I had no idea where I was going, I just knew it was outside the city. "so where is it you live?" I asked her to break the silence of the bus, no one was talking not even the OAP's which was odd.

"Lichfield, it's about twenty minutes outside the City," She smiled expecting me to generally know how far that would be, I did not however.

"Right that doesn't mean a lot to me," I laughed to her as I gazed out of the window we were sat next to.

"It's not far, it's a small country town not far from Stafford, and it's actually in Staffordshire not the west midlands."

"Okay, still not sure where that it, I know of London and Essex, that's about it," I said jokingly although it's about true.

"What about where you have been around the world?" She asked me as we continued to ride the bus.

"What about them?" I asked her back.

"Did you not see some amazing places?"

"Not really we tended to arrive at night and leave that same night," I replied just looking straight at her. However I felt I was making her uncomfortable so I decided to change the conversation, "So where have you seen in the world?"

"Probably nowhere near as much as you but I've been to Kenya to climb Mount Kenya and America just to see Silicon Valley," She chuckled.

"I've always wanted to do that," I said to her.

"You've never climbed a mountain?" She asked confused, "I thought that's what you trained doing?"

"No, I meant I want to go to Silicon Valley," I laughed at her as she looked back at me even more confused.

"Why?" She recoiled at me.

"I don't know, just to see what it's like in the epicentre of the lowest brain cell count per capita in the world."

She laughed almost uncontrollably, "I thought you were being serious for a second!"

"I was," I told her with a blank expression which just caused her to laugh more.

Ashley reached over to the pole on the bus and pushed the stop button which was situated about half way up the pipe. "Let's go," She smiled.

I looked out of the window as the bus pulled up, there was very little around, I could see fields and field but no buildings. However suddenly the town sprang on us, rows and rows of these perfectly arranged houses on perfect little streets, I guess I had been away from town and civie life for so long that it now seemed alien.

The bus rolled up to the stop and the doors slid open, Ashley as I climbed off. She dragged me in a seemingly random direction but it was obviously the direction that she lived in. We came across Essington Close, which was a small cul-de-sac with about twenty houses on it, they seemed nice enough but they looked like three or four bed houses, which slightly confused me.

"Here we are number seventeen," Ashley said as she stopped outside a house which was semi-detached, just a brick front and had a plastic and glass front door.

"Okay, are we going in?" I asked her as we just stood outside the building.

"Yeah my housemate is a bit crazy, if she quizzes you don't be afraid she doesn't mean to be as bad as she is she's just," She paused for a minute, "Erm… passionate," She laughed as I looked back at her nervously, "You'll be fine, you're meant to be the big bad marine after all."

"Yeah but I'd take contact over being pressured by someone," I laughed back at her.

We walked up to the door and Ashley slid the key into the door which she didn't actually get to turn before the door was yanked open exposing a short haired woman who wore denim shorts with a black tank top. She smiled at Ashley then scowled at me.

"Come on Bailey play nice," Ashley said as she pushed her way past the woman dragging me behind her.

"You two play nicely," Bailey shouted behind us as Ashley quickly wisped me upstairs. Her accent was most definitely foreign but I couldn't put my finger on where it was from.

"This is my room," Ashley said shakily as she opened her room door. She quickly darted inside and I had to follow her through morbid curiosity, her room however was immaculate and extremely pink and girly. Ashley was just stood in the middle of her room with her bright red cheeks almost glowing.

"Well this was unexpected," I laughed as she turned even redder.

"Yeah," She smiled coyly; I dumped my bag down in the corner of the room and walked over to her. I placed my hands on her hips and she buried her head into my chest, we must have just stood there in silence for about ten minutes but Bailey decided to come up and knock on the door.

"Was just checking to make sure the pommie bootnecker hasn't murdered you yet!" She shouted through the door at us.

"Nah, I'm still breathing," Ashley replied in a breathy voice.

"I don't wanna know," Bailey replied laughing.

"Not like that Roo," She smiled as she walked over to the door and opened it.

"You wanna go get take away?" Bailey said as the door opened exposing her grinning face. She looked past Ashley and looked at me. "You're a marine you eat everything right?"

"Damn right," I smiled back which got a small grin out of her.

"Good, let's go get take away then," She told Ashley not giving her an option.

"Well I guess it's takeaway then," Ashley said as she took my hand and we left the room.

On the way down the stairs I noticed that Bailey had a tattoo on the back of her neck it was a name just Mason, maybe an ex-boyfriend or husband but she wasn't old enough to really be married and divorced really at her age?

I put it to the back of my mind and continued down the stairs, when we reached the bottom Bailey went into her room to retrieve a coat, leaving Ashley and I outside the door.

"Do you know who Mason is?" I asked Ashley as I looked at each other.

"What are you on about?" She replied as I looked back in confusion.

"The tattoo on the back of Bailey's neck, it says Mason," I told her as the door to Bailey's room opened.

"Mason," Bailey simply said as she left the room, Ashley and I just stood there stunned by not knowing what the connection with this Mason was. "He was….." She paused, "he was my husband."

"Husband?" Ashley outburst suddenly, "I thought you were, you know…. A erm…. Not like me," Ashley said nervously.

"If you're just saying I'm from the correct way up, then yeah I'm not like you," Bailey laughed, "Mason was my husband, he died in Afghanistan, he was a bootneck like you but he stepped on a landmine and lost an arm and both legs which cost him his life, literally an arm and leg."

"Aye, what does that mean for you?" I asked her as she smiled at me maniacally.

"It means I'm a thirty year old widow who had to move across the globe to get a job to survive and escape the "Oh I'm so sorry for you BS"," She said to me.

"So you're an Aussie?" I asked her as she shifted her weight onto one leg.

"Yeah, what's it to you, Pommie," She replied sarcastically.

"Nothing by it I thought you'd just have a barbeque attached to your ass at all times," I laughed at her and she chuckled back.

"But I thought you were gay!" Ashley just shouted not quite knowing what the whole conversation had been about.

"What the fuck?" Bailey looked at Ashley in confusion.

"You know the whole short hair, not very feminine clothes and boisterous attitude," Ashley shrugged.

"That's just how I am, I'm not gay," Bailey laughed, she was seeming more like the person who would take everything smiling compared to the person who she first gave off the impression of being she was actually quite nice.

"So, we heading for Pizza or Kebab or Chinese?" I asked to break some of the awkwardness.

"It's up to Ashley, she's the fussy one," Bailey said laughing causing Ashley to blush.

"Please say kebab, I haven't had one since before I lost my leg," I said to Ashley as I could almost taste the doner meat.

"Okay kebabs it is then," Ashley shrugged and smiled at me.

Bailey opened the door and we wandered out into the rapidly darkening street, it was only around seven but it was already starting to get dark but that is late autumn for you I guess, we reached the high-street of Lichfield with its cathedral towering above all the other buildings along the road.

"That's one big arse church," I said as I gazed up at the towering decorated spire of the cathedral.

"Yeah St. Chad is a big old bitch," Bailey said as she looked over to me.

"What the fuck is Saint Chad?" I asked Ashley who was clinging to me trying to shield herself from the cold.

"You would know if you were a Mercian like me," She smiled, "He was a Saxon who was the abbot of a bunch of monasteries around Mercia."

"Mercia used to cover west Essex which is where I'm from so I'm as much a Mercian as you although I wouldn't associate myself with that crap hat regiment," I smiled at her although I think I shocked both her and Bailey with my actual intelligent response.

"The Bootneck has a brain after all," Bailey poked at me as we continued to walked through the street.

"What can I say I had time to read on deployment," I told them, "My offo lent me a book just before he was killed called "A short history of Essex" which I ready thoroughly and returned to him on his coffin whilst he was in the C-130."

"Well that's one way to learn some history," Ashley told me solemnly.

"Yeah I know but at least it made me read the book cover to cover three times I wanted to know everything that my home county and that of my CO had been and how we were adding to that history." We stopped just outside the kebab shop and I could smell the cooking meat from inside, "Let's go get some good grub shall we?" I asked as I completely killed off my story which everyone seemed fine with.

"Bailey, what you having?" Ashley asked as the man behind the counter looked at us.

"Small chicken with chips," She smiled as we warmed our hands on the edge of the counter, to which the man nodded and wrote down.

Ashley then turned her head to me she didn't even need to ask me the question, "XL doner with salad, chilly and chips," I grinned as the bloke wrote that down as well.

"And I'll take a shish with salad and chips too, please," She said to the man, we took a seat while she paid and it took about ten minutes to get our order cooked.

"Wanna go to the park to eat up?" Ashley asked as I started to scoff my chips down.

"Yeah that sounds good," I said through my mouthful of food.

We slowly walked to the park just talking not doing anything in particular just enjoying the setting sun, when we sat down on a park bench I had to roll up my trouser to check on my leg, luckily it was fine. However as I rolled my leg down a group of kids, well they were probably about fourteen to fifteen, walked past and one who obviously thought he was billy big balls.

He turned around and shouted at me, "Hey look it's a real peg legged pirate," He laughed as he got a few chuckles from his friends.

"Yeah what of it?" I said to him as I relaxed back in my seat.

"I…I….I bet you….." he mumbled.

"What are you going to say?" Bailey asked calmly as we continued to be stared at by the kids.

"Err…." He stuttered and his friends dragged him away.

"Well that was awkward," Ashley said as she stood up.

"They're just kids, they won't laugh when they step on a grenade," I replied to her as I stood up. "Shall we go back to yours?" I asked her.

"Yeah let's head back we need to get you in early tomorrow don't we?" she pointed out to me.

"Yeah I guess I need discharging at some point."

We wound up back at Ashley's house and we both headed upstairs leaving Bailey to go into her room, Ashley unlocked her door and we entered her room which still had my bag dumped in the corner. Ashley dumped her coat on the floor and flopped down on her bed, I sat on the very edge of her bed just looking at her whilst she did the same to me.

"So….." I started but she did not continue the sentence we just sat there not doing a lot.

"Yeah," She exhaled as she laid down on her back and pretty much starfished in the middle of her bed. I just looked down at my prosthetic which I was afraid of taking off infront of her now even though she had seen it multiple times when I was in the hospital. "You don't have to feel ashamed of it, you know?" She told me calmly as she placed one of her hands across my shoulders.

"I know but…." I replied as she hugged up to me and I continued to look down at it.

"But what?" She continued my sentence, "Like it or not it's a part of you now and I personally don't mind it, I…" She stopped suddenly.

"What's up?" I asked as I turned my head to meet her face in close quarters.

"I love you," She whispered to me before her lips gently met mine.

She pulled away slowly but not very far just far enough for me to open my mouth, "I love you too." After which I released my leg and laid back next to her.

Honestly nothing else happened in that night or did it?

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter I will be starting on the next one very soon, as for that last question I think you know the answer but I'm keeping things hush for a little bit next time we'll see how the new DI copes at Lympstone. Until then….PEACE!**


	7. Chapter 7 Lympstone

Lympstone

**Right so it seems this story exploded with positive feedback from the last chapter which I am immensely pleased about, and I will thank everyone who has read and reviewed it so far, I would like to give a massive thank you to Laura627 and Prettprincess45 for taking the time to ready it through and post their review, it really has spurred this story on. I really do appreciate the reviews and would like to get more feedback on the story and how you think it's going. But anyway I should probably stop rambling but I honestly an ecstatic about the reviews but as always I don't own COD but I do own Anchor.**

"_Stand by we're almost there," A mumbled voice shouted._

"_Fuck, we need them here now!" Another voice shouted._

"_Shit grenade!" I then heard just as s loud explosion occurred._

I shot up just after the explosion my ears still ringing from the bang, I looked around the room seeing that I was still at Ashley's and the loud bang was in fact her knocking the alarm clock off her side board. "Come on, up and at 'em," Ashley said to me as I squinted as the curtains were flung open.

"Jesus Christ," I growled as I rubbed my eyes from the intense light, "What time is it?" I asked her as I looked out of the window to see the sun just coming up over the horizon.

"Six thirty, your life is easy on the other side of the green curtain," she said jokingly.

I swung my legs out of the side of the bed and placed my stump into my prosthetic; I tightened the straps on my leg which now just felt normal for me. I then put on my clothes and we went down for breakfast Bailey was already sat at their small table which only had to seats.

"Well you can actually walk today?" Bailey asked Ashley sarcastically.

"Shut up!" Ashley said quietly as she put the kettle on. Bailey however jumped up next to the kettle on the worktop and stared at Ashley was, the both giggled to one and other uncontrollably, I took a seat at the table. "You want a cupper?" Ashley asked me as the kettle stopped boiling and they had stopped laughing.

"Nah I don't drink tea or coffee, how about just a glass of water?" I asked her as I looked at the collection of cereals that they had arranged in what looked like box size next to their fridge.

"I can get you that," Ashley told me as she looked at where I was staring, "You hungry?" She asked.

"Starving," I nodded as she place a glass of water on the table and sat down with her cup of coffee opposite me.

"Help yourself like fuck we're eating it," Bailey said over to me, I got up and grabbed the box of shreddies from next to the fridge.

"Can I get a bowl?" I asked Bailey causing them both to chuckle.

"Awww can't the big bad marine rough it," Bailey said from behind me as I looked at the box held in my hand.

"Just eat it from the box, no one's going to tell you off here," Ashley laughed as I reached into the box and pulled out a handful of shreddies, sitting down in the process.

I came to seven o'clock and Ashley went to grab her coat so I grabbed my bag from her room and waited for her to get to the door. "You ready for your last day in rehab?" Ashley asked me as I tightened the straps on my bag.

"Aye as I'll ever be," I told her as I looked out of the window and spotted the sun which had now actually come over the horizon and now had its full blaring light over the rooftops of the buildings in full view as Ashley opened the door.

The heat from the sun's rays broke through the chill of the morning, I was not fully aware of my surroundings yet though and bumped into Ashley was we exited the house. "This is very early," I said to Ashley as I walked forward down the driveway and I turned to walk towards the bus stop.

"This has been my every morning for the last few years of my life," She laughed as she locked the door behind us. It took a couple of minutes to get to the bus stop, which had more people standing around it than the night previously, but we lined up behind everyone and a few minutes later the bus arrived. When I tried to walk I felt my stump put a small amount of pressure on the prosthetic the cold shot up my leg which made me shiver as I managed to get on the bus.

Eventually after about thirty five minutes on the bus we arrived just outside the hospital, I took a deep breath in as I stepped out of the bus inhaling the smells that I had become so familiar with. I looked at Ashley as I stood looking at the front sliding glass doors and sighed.

"What's up?" Ashley asked as I took a tentative step forward.

"I think I'm going to miss this place," I replied as the doors slid open and we walked into the main foyer where the Doc was waiting for me.

"Come now, sergeant we have paperwork to do," He smiled as I to Ashley was she wandered down to her office.

"I'll come and find you after I'm done," I told her as she walked off to which she smiled and turned to continue walking.

"How you doing sergeant?" the Doc asked as he led me to his office where I spotted a stack of paper to which I thought 'Fucking great.'

"Actually I think it's colour sergeant now, Doc," I told him knowing ful well that I would be on my way to Lympstone in a few hours.

"Colours, well haven't you done well for yourself," He chuckled as he sat down and pointed at the chair opposite him, to which I promptly put my arse in, "How's Ashley feel about it?" He asked politely as he reached into his desk for something.

"I think she'll be fine, well I hope so, she doesn't seem to want to stop me," I told the Doc as I heard him clanging some glass from inside his desk.

"She'll never try to stop you, you just promise me one thing," He told me seriously as I looked him straight in the eye, "You keep her safe," He glared at me, I just simply nodded, "Good, now onto the most important part of the day," He said as he pulled two small glasses out of his desk along with a full bottle of Glen Fiddich single malt, "how about a gulper?" he said in his most west country sounding voice yet.

"Oh yes," I told him as I watched him pour me a glass of the bronze liquid and passed me the glass, he then did the same and picked up his glass.

"To new beginnings," He told me as he raised his glass, to which I raised mine and clinked my glass against his.

"Amen to that," I said as I took a gulp of the whiskey and admired the burn and taste of the drink before looking back at the stack.

"Let's get to it then it's not going to do itself," The Doc said as he pulled out a pen and took the first wad of paper off the stack and placed it in front of me, "It's pretty simple, sign the dotted lines and tick the boxes," he told me as he slumped back in his chair and took a sip from his glass.

"So how'd yours happen?" I asked the Doc as I ticked and signed the papers.

"How'd what happen?" He replied sounding like he didn't know what I meant which was bullshit the Doc was a smart man.

"Your leg, how'd you lose it?"

"Is that a concern of yours?" He asked me.

"Yeah it is, I've known you two months and I don't actually know a thing about you," I told me as I finished the first booklet of signing and ticking.

"Well since you put it so nicely," He said with a big grin as he passed me the next set of papers, "I wasn't a Marine like you, I was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Royal Army medical Corps, I was on MERT duty at that point, we had just received confirmation that a group of Coldstream Guards had gotten into a bit of trouble around Qats just North of Musa Quala, we rocked up with mastiffs and Vikings, however when we entered the AO, we hit a mine in the lead vehicle, I was commanding the second vehicle which went to check for survivors and as I did a command wire IED detonated and I woke up here just like you," He sat back still smiling, "now it's your turn," he nodded at me.

"Well I was a marine," I began but the Doc interrupted.

"Well that's bollocks, I know that you were a sasquatch," the Doc said to me as I looked at the glass of whiskey on the table.

"And what makes you think that?" I asked him as I looked up at him.

"Because no ordinary sergeant spends their first few weeks as with an armed detail outside their room guarding a HVT," He smiled, "So you've got to be a sasquatch," He laughed to himself.

"Alright you got me, I was SAS, I got booted for my injury though," I told him, to which he said nothing like he wanted me to continue, "It all started when we discovered that the civil war in Russia had the side effect of arming the middle east with nuclear weapons to which we had to put a stop to. My team and I were tasked with taking out Imran Zakhaev, the man who led the ultranationalist rebels, however it wasn't that simple and we got stuck on a bridge when we were exfailing from the AO with the USMC first recon, I tried to kick away a grenade and it went off, then I woke up here just like you apparently."

"And how much of that can I believe?" He asked me.

"None of it," I replied to him as I took another gulp of whiskey and handed over the stack of paper. It took another hour or so to fill in all the bits of paper I needed for my discharge but I finally got there.

As I got up to leave the office, the Doc got up too and held out his hand to me, "Well, it's been an honour colour sergeant," he said as I shook his extended right hand.

"That it has Colonel," I smiled and I saluted him.

I left the office and went to find Ashley who I had no idea where she would be, I did find her on the ward where they kept the wounded Marines. I told her that I had to contact the Marines at Lympstone to organise a pick up to which she looked a bit green but she said she was okay.

I found a phone and pulled the piece of paper out of my pocket which had been written on the bottom of my letter from the marines, the phone beeped twice before it was picked up by a gruff man on the other end.

"Hello, this is RM Lympstone, Warrant Officer Pitching speaking, how can I help you?" They asked in their smoky voice.

"Hello, this is sergeant Jacks, I'm calling about my new role as the DI at the base," I told him not quite knowing what to say.

"Ah, yes, sergeant we've been expecting your call, we can send a snatch to come pick you up at a time suitable for you."

"How about try and get here for half five? I still have to sort some things out."

"That would be fine, I'll tell the lads and the OC and we'll see you then. He signed off I put the phone down and turned around seeing Ashley running towards the toilets, she looked even more green than before.

I looked around the hallway and saw that no one was coming so I opened the door and heard heavy reaching from within the cubicles, "Ashley, are you okay?" I asked as I opened the cubicle seeing her hunched over the toilet.

"Yeah, I'm fine," She said as she hacked up another load.

"Really?" I asked her as I lent down next to her and placed my hand over her shoulders, I could feel her shaking which I knew something was up, as if the vomiting wasn't enough.

"I'll be fine," She said as she stood up and I passed her some tissue to wipe her mouth.

"Come on, let's go get some fresh air," I told her as I helped her stand up, and walk out of the toilet. I got her to the front desk, collected a kidney dish just in case and we went outside to sit on a bench. When I got her sat down she stopped shaking but she was still shaking so I took off my hoodie and wrapped it around her. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine just came over really faint," She replied as she hunched over so I passed her the kidney dish.

"Why'd you come over faint?" I asked her.

"I don't know," She told me as she looked up to me and rested her head on my shoulder.

"Hopefully it will pass pretty quickly," I said as she rested. We sat there for about half an hour, not really doing much but as we sat there the sky came over black and started to piss it down. I helped Ashley inside and we sat in the Café of the hospital. I got Ashley a coffee to calm her down and I got myself a full fat coke.

After we sat there just talking as she got better, I could see her getting less green, she finished her coffee and stood up, "I should probably get back to work." She said to me as I stood up too.

"Alright, well I don't leave until half five so you wanna get another coffee before then?" I asked her as I walked with her towards the ward.

"I'd like that," She smiled as we walked towards the ward.

It came to around four o'clock so I went to find Ashley only this time I came prepared for her, I bought a take away coffee and a large chocolate chip cookie from the café. When I found her she still looked a little unwell but when she was handed the cookie and coffee she brightened up quick and returned to her normal self.

We decided to sit in her office until around five at which time she could officially clock off, but as soon as we could we went to sit outside for a bit just to get a last half hour together before I had to leave and I would not know when I would be able to get back to see her.

I kept an eye on my watch and had my bag ready under my feet with all my combats in along with some of my personal belongings like the duck on the rope and the monopoly money which I still didn't know who sent.

As it approached half past I heard the distinctive sound of a Snatch Land Rover, I looked at Ashley who was almost in tears as I looked at her. I held her close and the Land Rover came around the corner and I looked Ashley in eyes which were filling with tears.

"Look at me," I told her as she tried to look away, "I will come back for you, I will be with you again eventually, I'll call you when I get there." I nodded at her as I embraced her but as I did I heard the door on the Land Rover open.

"Sergeant Jacks?" The man climbing out of the truck asked.

"Yeah, that's me, I take it woz Pitching sent you?" I replied as he walked towards me.

"Yeah you could say that, I am Warrant Officer Pitching, here to get you to the barracks," He nodded as he offered to lead me to the Rover.

"Aye, gimme one minute," I told him as I turned to Ashley and was now putting on a brave face but I could tell she wasn't doing too well. I reached behind my neck and unlinked my old SAS dog tags and placed them in her hand, leaning forward I whispered gently in her ear, "I'll be back for those, keep them safe for me." To which I felt her nod, then I simply ended with, "I love you," and a gentle kiss on her cheek.

I heard her faintly say, "I love you too," as I pulled away and she pecked me on the lips, just before scarpering off with my chain dangling loosely from her hand.

"Right after you, wozzo," I told Pitching as I slung my bag over my shoulder and climbed into the back passenger seat of the Snatch Land Rover.

"Warrant Officer!" He demanded after me as I shut the door on the Land Rover and he climbed in next to me on the driver's side.

"How long is it going to take to get back to the Stone?" I asked as the driver pulled away in the Land Rover, navigating the maze of one way streets and lanes around the hospital.

"About three hours, we'll get there around half eight to nine," Pitching replied as I looked under the seat seeing a box of 5.56mm.

"Can we stop in a drive thru to get some food on the way through then?" I asked as we eventually managed to leave the Hospital.

"Yeah there's a macky D in Cheltenham which we can stop off at in about an hour," he said to me as I looked out of the window as we approached the M5.

"Cool, I'm gonna catch forty winks before I get my ass run into the ground by you assholes," I laughed as I laid back in my seat and closed my eyes.

"Sergeant, we've just got off the M5," Pitching said as he knocked me in the shoulder.

I opened my eyes slowly seeing the motorway services at junction eleven of the M5, I could see the colossal sign of the McDonalds. "What we getting?" I asked as we swung the front end into the drive through and just about fit in between the curb and the building.

"Erm….. you want a legend?" The driver asked as he turned around.

"Yeah with bacon, cheese and chilli," I said to him, "oh and make it a large meal," I then told him as I leant forward whilst we approached the ordering window.

"Fine," The corporal who was driving said calmly as he ducked to look through the window from the high position which he found himself in.

"May I take your order," the young woman who could have only been around sixteen asked us as we all looked through the window. The Corporal ordered out food and we rolled through the drive thru to the waiting position. It took about ten minutes for all our food to get there but when it did I pretty much devoured the whole thing before we got back on the M5.

It took about an hour and a half to get to Devon and from there it didn't take long to get to the train station outside Lympstone, where Pitchings and I climbed out of the Snatch and entered the base.

I was met by a huge admin room filled with the potential candidates for Commando School which I would be drilling down over the next few days but the wozzo just led me through the room to a small office which had Cpt. Carter written on a bronze plaque on the door.

The wozzo let me knock on the door, which I had a few second pause before I heard a voice from inside the room shout, "Come in." I opened the door and saluted the officer who foreboded me, his figure was huge he must have been at least six foot six tall and just as broad. "Ah, you must be our new colour sergeant?" he quizzed as he held out his huge paw.

I shook his hand and nodded telling him, "Aye that's me, Sir."

"Good, here's your tab and Pitchings can you show him around get him reacquainted with the place it's been a while since he's been here after all," The Lt. said to wozzo to which he saluted and led me out of the room.

"So you remember the drill right?" Pitchings asked me as we returned to the sheer chaos of the initial ten minutes of Commando School.

"Yeah I remember this like it was yesterday," I told him as I looked at the terrified candidates who were having orders barked at them by the corporal who was lining them up and taking them through the process of being stripped of the things that made them human, they were becoming Commandos.

I walked past the line of candidates and nodded to the corporal who nodded back at me, I was led to where I would be sleeping at the end of the barracks, "Here you go," Pitchings opened the door revealing my desk, bed and wardrobe.

"I like it, its homely," I laughed as I looked at my watch seeing that it was nearly half nine, "So am I needed tonight?" I asked.

"You can come down for the introduction but you shouldn't be needed for much else," He nodded as he walked out the door, "Oh, there are new fats in the wardrobe an iron and board down the side and a laptop under your bed."

"Cheers, when's the brief?" I asked.

"Ten past ten," He said simply as he left me to it.

I placed my bag on the desk and pulled out my old fatigues and placed them on coat hangers from the wardrobe. I then pulled out the soap on the rope and hung it across my curtain rail then placed the monopoly money in a separate pocket in my wallet.

I looked down and saw a small card in my bag, I pulled it out and saw it was from Ashley it just had "I love you," written on it I didn't know when she would put it in there but she obviously had at some point.

I looked over at the phone which was sat on my desk and thought for a second, I picked it up and dialled the hospital, it toned for several times but was picked up eventually by a familiar voice, "hello," the voice said as they picked up.

"Hey Doc, it colour sergeant Jacks, I was wondering if you had Ashley's home phone number?" I got straight to the point.

"Ah, sergeant yes we have it here, give me a minute," He said as I heard him put the phone down and flip through pages. "I have it here," he said as he read out the number, "is that all you wanted to know?" He asked me.

"Yeah that's it Doc," I told him as I thanked him and hung up.

I then quickly dialled the number he had given me for Ashley which this time I got a much fast pick up, "Hello," I heard Ashley sniffle as she answered the phone.

"Hey," I paused before continuing, I had already decided that it was probably not the best idea to call as instantaneously I wanted to go back to the hospital and see her just one more time for five minutes longer but I knew that I couldn't, "It's me," I said calmly as I heard her gasp and weep.

"Why did you call? I thought you'd be busy tonight?" She sounded very confused.

"I have about half an hour to myself and I didn't want to be by myself," I told her trying to clarify, "I miss you," I sighed to her as I felt myself becoming over run with emotions.

"I miss you too," I heard her now in complete emotional breakdown she was weeping and crying openly down the phone at me.

"Listen to me," I said quietly to her t which I heard her sniffle and then try to hold herself up a bit.

"Yeah."

"I am here for two months on this stint then I have a week to myself which I will be back in Staffordshire with you if you want that?" I asked her with a smile on my face not that she would see it.

"I would like that," she replied trying to clear her throat obviously she had been crying for a long time.

"Good, now I have to go soon but I want you to promise me that you'll be okay," I said to her.

"It will be difficult you not being here, but I will be okay, I just need to adjust to it," she told me calmly I could tell she wasn't just saying it, she really did mean it.

"I know it won't be easy, I don't think I've ever cared for someone as much as I do for you, which is strange considering we've only known each other for about four months," I sniggered to her.

"yeah it is strange isn't it," She laughed too.

"Are you feeling any better now?" I asked her.

I could hear a distinctive clinking sound which sounded like small metal plates colliding together, "Yeah I am," I heard her say with genuine enthusiasm, which made me feel better but it didn't stop me wanting to get in a car and go back to see her.

"Good, now I have to go now to get ready for my big entrance," I laughed as I looked at my fatigues in my wardrobe, "I don't know when I'll be able to call you again," I told her.

"That's fine I have spoken to you now and I know you're alright which is good enough for me," She replied.

"Okay then, so I love you and I'll call you when I can," I smiled at her.

"I love you too."

"Goodbye."

"Bye."

I put down the phone and started to put on my fatigues which took slightly longer as I had to stick the bottom of my trousers into my prosthetic. I placed my light green t-shirt on and pulled my jacket over that and slid my colour sergeant tab over the slide in the centre of the jacket. I put the one boot I needed on my left foot and did up the laces.

I left my room at precisely ten o'clock, and made my way across the parade square to the lecture theatre where the latest role of candidates, were to receive their initial indoctrination into the Royal Marine Comandos.

I stood outside the door and waited for five minutes and waited for someone else to come along but no one did. I looked down my watch seeing it was ten past so I opened the doors to where the candidates were all sat in rows chatting amongst each other. However as soon as I walked into the room, it fell silent, I could hear my prosthetic and my boots stomp as I walked to the front of the theatre to where the Lieutenant and Warrant Officer were standing.

"Right now we can begin," the Lieutenant said as he stepped forward and introduced himself and left it to us to introduce ourselves.

When it came to me I felt my heart pound in my chest, I stepped forward and stood tall, "I am Colour Sergeant Jacks, I'll be doing the field craft and PT here, I will also be responsible for Alpha section," I nodded as I stepped backwards into the row of NCOs.

The Lieutenant continued to explain what their next few months would entail for them, he then asked them to stand up and swear their oath.

'_I Arthur Jacks swear by Almighty God that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty__Queen Elizabeth II, Her Heirs and Successors, and that I will, as in duty bound, honestly and faithfully defend Her Majesty, Her Heirs and Successors, in Person, Crown and Dignity against all enemies, and will observe and obey all orders of Her Majesty, Her Heirs and Successors, and of the generals and officers set over me.'_

**I hope you've been enjoying the story up to this point and I will try and update it soon but I have got a lot of uni work on at the moment most importantly a bit of work on Zirconium-89 and Positron Emission Tomography which is a mouth full but it shouldn't interrupt too much. Anyways until the next time…. PEACE!**


	8. Chapter 8 Training Days

Training Days

**I hope we've all been enjoying the story so far in this one I drop a big bombshell which I've been building towards for about the whole story up to this point hopefully I do it in a way that you will enjoy. I have a few more hick ups at some point planned and rest assured the world is still grounded in the modern warfare games universe, so expect the unexpected with this one, unless like always it's not that hard to guess what's coming next and you know what's going to happen in that case aren't you clever (patronising head pat :p). But onto the story! I don't own COD but I do own Anchor!**

I heard my alarm go off buzzing on the edge of the table which was sat not even a foot from my head, "Oh Fuck off!" I sighed to myself as I smashed the thing on the head knocking it onto the floor, it rolled in a strange circle for about a minute before resting looking up at me saying proudly that it was half four in the morning. "Great," I then whispered as I sat upright on my bed, I looked down at my legs and put my hand on my knees, I then looked up at my uniform which I had cleanly pressed before I had gone to sleep after the disaster of a briefing the night previously.

I slid my leg inside the walking prosthetic and clambered over to the wardrobe where my stuff was hung; it looked so new and different from what I remembered from my time in the marines. I placed the clothes on and straightened up before exiting into the corridor where I saw Pitchings leave his room too.

"You ready for the longest day?" Pitchings asked me as I saw the other NCOs come out of their holes and line up outside the main billeting room.

"Aye, it's going to be fun," I laughed as he placed his hand on the door knob and twisted it. "Game on," I quietly whispered to myself as we all burst through the room followed by a set of thunder flashes thrown in by the other two NCOs who pushed their way into the room as the candidates just fell out of bed.

"Right you lot, get up!" Pitchings shouted at the candidates as they tried to regain their feet.

"You!" I pointed out one who was still laid on the floor shaking, "Welcome to the fucking marines, now get the fuck up!" I shouted at him and dragged him to his feet by the side of his neck.

"Right you all look fabulous, don't you!" The Corporal who threw one of the thunder flashes in shouted to the candidates as they all stood up to attention shaking and naked.

"Yes, Corporal!" They all replied in unison.

"Glad you think so!" He then shouted out as he made his was over to the candidate that I had helped up, "Havershack, isn't it?" He demanded in the candidates face even though he was about six inches shorter than the candidate.

"Yes, sir!" The candidate replied shaking profusely.

"Well, I'm glad you see my upper class mentality," he shouted into the candidates face, "But I'm not a fucking officer, I'm your corporal, now get down and give me a push up for every fuck up in this room and I count sixty!" He demanded as he shoved the candidate to the floor and placed his well-polished boot on his back.

When the candidate had finished Pitchings called off his pit-bull and took over, "Right now I want everyone out in the parade square suited and booted for Colours Jacks to give you your first PT session," He said calmly with a blood curdling stare which gave every candidate a look like they had well and truly met their maker.

"Yes, Woz!" They all replied as they frenzied to get themselves ready, I however retreated to my room and placed my running leg on which felt strange I hadn't had much practise in it but I guess this would have to be my baptism by fire.

I waited outside the building at the centre point of the parade square; eventually Corporal pit-bull led them out into the darkness which was only lit by the lights above the door attached to a balcony. I could see two figures up on the balcony but I couldn't make out who exactly they were.

"Stop looking so fucking sloppy you bunch of useless wankers and get your shit together, four fucking ranks of fifteen, left hand dress, it's not fucking hard!" I ordered from the centre of the parade square, I could hear my voice echo around the square as the darkness. I head the immediate shuffling of the candidates boots on the ground as they organised themselves on the square. I wandered up and down the front rank seeing the candidate who had been grilled by the Corporal and stood next to him was a man of similar build but he had brown hair not the blonde look of the first, he was tall at least five eleven but not near to my six four.

As I approached the candidate he smirked to which I pulled him from the ranks, "You, out here now!" I ordered as I pulled him by the crown of his hair. "Now then tell us all what you found so funny!" I barked as he stood now isolated from the pack, defenceless.

"Erm…"

"Oh for fucks sake," I said as I put him on his knees, "Fucking say it you pussy! If you can't me what you think how will you ever have the sack to love a woman, you fucking child!"

"It's just your peg leg," He nervously recoiled as he blurted out the words.

"My what?" I demanded as he cowered on the floor.

"You peg leg?" He questioned confused.

"Get the fuck up," I dragged him to his feet by the back of his UBAC shirt and stood him in front of me. He was now absolutely shitting himself, I placed me hands on either of his shoulders, "I bet I can beat you in a race," I told him quietly in his ear.

"Huh?" Was his blank response.

"I'll race you!" I shouted to the group.

"What?"

"A fucking running race like in the Olympics, it's about a hundred metres to the mess hall doors, I bet I can beat you," I simply said to him. To which he nodded. "Corporal could you count down for me?" I asked.

"Yes, Colours," He replied quickly as he stood to attention.

"Good, so on three," I nodded to the candidate. I heard the Corporal slowly count to three but just as he reached two I turned to the candidate and smashed my forehead into his skull knocking him to the floor like a sack of potatoes and when the Corporal reached three, I just simply walked over to the mess hall doors and walked back.

"Right so does anyone else have any snide fucking remarks about my peg leg?" I questioned to the remaining fifty nine candidates.

"No, Colours!" They shouted back.

"Good now get him back up and in line!" I ordered to the two who would have been standing either side of him in the ranks.

I spent the next hour until breakfast running their arses into the ground but by the time breakfast had come around my voice was starting to become rather horse so I let them go for breakfast.

I walked into the mess hall following the precession of the candidates who were already shattered and it was only half six, "Hey, Colours, over here!" A voice shouted from behind me as I collected my food from the counter.

I turned around to look at where the voice had come from, I spotted the Lieutenant waving his hand at me, I walked over holding my plastic tray with food on top waiting for me to devour it. I sat down next to Pitchings who had a smirk on his face, as did the Corporal and the lieutenant.

"Alright then what's up?" I asked the three of them as I plonked my tray down with a loud clang.

"We were just admiring your work with the candidates this fine and brisk autumn morning," The lieutenant smiled as he tucked into his bacon butty.

"That was just the beginning give me six days of that and you'll get your marines at the end," I smiled.

"But then you're just taking away all the fun," The Corporal said as he spoke through a gob full of food which sprayed everywhere as he spoke.

"Nice," The lieutenant said as he looked at the corporal with pity, "Now we've got just basic fitness for the first week with a bit of drill provided by Warrant Officer Pitchings," He smiled.

"Oh for fucks sake, why me?" Pitchings asked as he sunk his head low.

"Because no one actually likes you," The lieutenant kicked while he was down at the same time as trying to keep his bacon in his gob.

"Very respectable, Sir," I laughed as I saw his bacon sandwich plaque slip from his mouth.

"You forget that all marines are inebriates and that if it wasn't for the marines we'd probably all be in prison or on the dole?" The Corporal questioned as the lieutenant picked back up his plaque and put it back in his mouth.

"Aye, that's true," I nodded to the Corporal.

I took the morning off as the candidates were getting their initial indoctrination, I just spent my time in the gym getting myself back into the right conditioning for training the poor bastards that I had under me.

It came to about half past one and I had to go for lunch but afterwards I would be taking the candidates and putting them through their paces in the sports hall, they were led in like before by the corporal, obviously something had sunken in a bit they held ranks so they looked like royal marine candidates.

"Right get in line, time for a bleep test," I said as the candidates all lined up just in ranks and got ready to run.

The test lasted over half an hour some of these guys were fit but I could get them to break and then we could make marines.

Two weeks down the line and the candidates and I were preparing for the first field craft exercise they would undertake, they had been driven down to just thirty guys now and they still had seven weeks left of it. I had had some down time and written Ashley a bluey which I had gotten a written reply via the same manner saying she was still feeling ill so I decided to call her before I left for the exercise she seemed pretty fine and was coping but I knew I couldn't wait until week eight and that weekend.

By the time we had gotten pitched up in Dartmoor it was around half eight and we had lost pretty much all light except for the IR a head torches that all the NCOs and the CO were wearing. We made sure everyone had gotten their tent up for the night and were ready to hit the hay for the cold night.

When the CO gave the order we switched over the night vision to make sure everyone was actually asleep. It was all gravy till about five am when the CO ordered a live firing of the minimi and gimpy, which shook the ground waking up the candidates who had probably had a rough night as it was but that was sure to wake them.

The first day consisted of learning how to read the land followed by a three hour nav course and a live exercise to make sure they had been listening, they had all past the initial nav test which meant they were actually learning something being here.

Their final activity was for them to create a detailed drawing of a small village situated in the valley and for them to report back with what the found, little did they know it would be an actual town no military personnel just civvies.

They reported back late and inaccurate but it was to be expected for their first attempt not terrible, they could have been way better though.

We had another rough night out only this time it was the first frost on Dartmoor, which was bloody cold. By morning the whole marsh had frozen we trudged for three miles in full kit to get ourselves into a position where the mastiffs and huskies could pick us up.

We got back into base by ten am just in time for Wozzo to give them a good drill session on tired legs. They did it on the verge of being broken three collapsed and two were bollocked for doing it wrong which meant that they all paid in blood sweat and tears.

"We've almost got them," The Lieutenant told me as we stood on the balcony overlooking the parade square.

"Then let's make some marines then," I told him as I walked into the office to get myself a glass of water and grabbed a bag of monster munch to eat.

Two days later.

I received another bluey from Ashley saying that she wanted to talk to me as soon as I got the letter; I couldn't until the evening as I was grilling the candidates in the gym for several hours from lunch until tea and then I would be teaching them how to behave at the range.

It got to around seven o'clock when I could actually ring her, she picked up near enough instantly.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked her.

"I went to the doctors the other day, about the constant sickness, and they took a test," She replied like she was beating around the bush a lot.

"What kind of test?" I asked her concerned.

"A blood test," She replied.

"And what was the result?" I said sounding very patronising.

"My HGC level was higher than expected," She replied sheepishly.

"HGC? Oh shit," I replied as I realised what HGC actually was.

"Yeah there's the possibility that I'm pregnant," She annihilated me as she spoke cutting through my veil of facelessness with that one word.

"Do they know for sure?" I asked not know whether to be excited or fearful.

"No their going to take a proper test in two weeks to see if the HGC levels have raised any further but I won't know until then," She replied sounding just like me.

"Okay then, we don't know for sure but if it comes to it I'll be with you every step alright?" I smiled down the phone trying to not sound like a terrified school child.

"Yeah that sounds like a good idea, you should get back to your little boys," She laughed I think we were both in too much shock to think.

"Yeah I should," I paused, "I love you."

"I love you too," She bounced before putting down the phone, I didn't immediately put down the phone on my end I just held it in shock I think it was actually setting in, that feeling of holy fucking shit was happening.

**So what you think? Huh? Huh? Please I'd like to know really I do, I know my use of grammar leaves a lot to be desired but I do write this is a near identical way to how I speak and how people from the part of the UK I come from speak so our use of grammar isn't proper Queen's English but hopefully it's not too bad for people to understand ****I really do want to know how you think the story is going and what improvements you think I should make. Anyways I hope you enjoyed the chapter and until next time… PEACE!**


	9. Chapter 9 Attack

Attack

**Right here we go another chapter fresh out of the stove pipe, hopefully it is well received, I would like to know how you think I am doing with this little story line I have concocted, I hope I've been doing it in good taste I know I am adding to what seems to be a touchy subject in any military story but I hope I'm not just brushing it off as if it's nothing. Anyway I have pretty much finished my tango with zirconium-89 now then its onto revising for my first semester finals in January but I will try and get something done for this story too. Anyhow, let's get on with the good stuff shall we? As always I don't own COD but I do own Anchor.**

"Well you look like a man who's been condemned to death," The Corporal told me as I wandered into the NCO mess.

"Yeah you do look like shit mate," Wozzo Pitchings told me as I slummed down in a chair.

"Aye, you could say that," I nodded to Pitchings as I just stared into a corner of the room.

"Here," The Corporal said as he passed me a glass of clear liquid which I assumed to be water.

I took a sip of the liquid and immediately started choking, "What the hell was that?" I asked him as I sat up.

"Premium vodka," He smiled as I finished the glass.

"Ah that makes more sense now," I laughed and stood up.

"So what's up?" The Wozzo said as he blocked the doorway.

"Nothing I'll be fine," I said to him as I tried to exit.

"Right that's a load of bullshit," He said as he pushed me back on my arse into the chair I had been sat on, "If you can't tell us what the fucks up then those guys out there are going to grill your arse."

"He's got a point," The Corporal said as he stood over me.

"Okay the girl I've been seeing might be pregnant," I sighed as I slumped down in the chair.

"Fucking hell mate you work quickly, you've only known her what six months?" He asked.

"Nah four, mate," I looked up at him.

"Nice!" The Corporal said excitedly as he went to give me a high five.

"We're not your enemies mate, we won't judge you," Wozzo laughed as I was helped to my feet.

I stumbled as I regained my footing and it took me a few minutes to see straight, "Thanks lads, now let's get to these boys and make some men."

My two month break had been bearing down on me like a freight train.

When the time finally came I made my way straight back to Staffordshire to see Ashley who was gearing up for her final test with the doctors, I was sat outside in the waiting room while she was in having her test.

It took about twenty minutes for her to exit the room she just had a piece of paper and a blank expression on her face.

"So how'd it go?" I asked her as she just fell on me which gave me my answer.

"Well it's been confirmed," She sighed.

"You're pregnant," I said calmly as she buried her head into my chest.

"Yeah," She curled up in my chest and started to weep.

"Hey, let's get back to yours," I said to her as I held her hand and lead her way into the snatch land rover I had been leased by the base.

We sat in silence as we made our way towards her house where Bailey had already put the kettle on. We walked in and she left us to it in the living room, I sat down next to Ashley on the sofa she was cradling a hot cup of tea trying to keep herself together.

"How is this going to work?" She asked me as I attempted to put my hand on her knee but she just swiped it aside.

"I don't know," I sighed as I looked over to her but she was fixated in the cup.

"That's the point, I don't think we can do this," She spat as she started to sob.

"We can do this," I told her as I leant across the sofa towards her.

"No, we can't you're going to be away in the marines all the time and I won't be able to afford to keep working at the hospital and look after a child," She replied her tears were dropping into her tea which had now stopped steaming.

"I can get time off you know," I said to her whilst pulling her towards me.

"Yeah but not for long enough," she wept as she curled up on my chest still crying.

"We'll figure something out," I whispered to her as she tightened herself up in my arms.

She continued sinking in my chest until she was laid across my lap, "I'm so scared," she shook as I placed my hand across her shoulders and grasped the back of her shirt.

"I know baby," I paused for a second before whispering, "So am I."

We sat on the couch for about an hour just in silence before Bailey came in on us.

"I thought you two could need this," Bailey said as she handed me a large bar of chocolate.

"Thanks, Bailey," I said to her as I kept rubbing Ashley's back.

"No problem you two look like you need it," She smiled as I looked down at Ashley.

Ashley eventually stirred and lifted herself up keeping her head on my shoulder, "I'm really not that hungry," She said quietly as she looked down at the chocolate bar that I held in my hands.

"Come on, you have to eat at some point," I said to her as I peeled the foil off the back of the bar exposing the brown chocolate inside. I then snapped off a piece and offered it to Ashley, who looked at it for a few seconds before she succumbed to the chocolate.

"Bailey, you got Milka?" She asked with a rather excited tone.

"I know it's your favourite," Bailey smiled as she nicked a piece for herself, "Plus after your day I thought you might need it."

"Yeah I think I do."

"So, what you two going to do?" She then asked looking me straight in the eyes, in an almost glaring fashion.

"We dunno just yet," I looked back at her putting my hand on Ashley's thigh.

"You gonna move in together?" She then asked.

"We haven't decided on anything yet," Ashley added to the conversation.

"That's fine but you two know you won't be going anywhere without me," Bailey then said to us with a smile on her face.

"Oh we know that you bloody great kangaroo," Ashley laughed as she finally broke through her tears for the first time in about an hour and a half.

"Yeah we know you can't live on your own," I poked my tongue out at her and took another piece of chocolate.

"Hey, I can live on my own, I just choose to scrounge in here," She smiled.

"Yeah right," Ashley laughed.

We all sat around laughing until about half ten when we decided that it was probably about time we got to bed, I sat on the end of Ashley's bed just thinking about what we were going to do.

"What's on your mind?" Ashley asked as she shimmied up the bed towards me.

"Just thinking about what we are going to do," I said to her.

"What's your thoughts?" She asked me as I looked at her as she placed her hand on my shoulder.

"Well I've got about twenty thousand saved up, from my injury pay out and just from the last couple of months work," I said to her.

"What did you have in mind to do with that?" She asked.

"Maybe to put the deposit on a house? What you think?" I asked her.

She just looked back at me completely stunned, "Erm."

"You don't think we're ready?" I asked her, "Do you?"

"I dunno but we're going to have to do something aren't we?" She replied as I laid back and she laid across my chest.

"We should probably talk about it in the morning," I told her as placed my head back into the pillow and closed my eyes.

"No, we should discuss this now," She said to me as she lifted herself up.

"Why you don't think we could do it so what's the point?" I replied as I kept my eyes closed hoping she couldn't see me.

"I said I wasn't sure but I guess we'll find out if we're ready won't we?"

"Yeah I hope we do," I whispered back.

"Hope.. Hope….. It's always I hope with you, when do we actually sit down and have a conversation?" She shouted to which I failed to respond, "Huh?"

"Look if you're just going to shout then I don't wanna talk right now so can you please talk to me calmly when you're ready." I told her as I climbed out of bed and put my leg on and stood up.

"Where are you going?" She spat at me.

"To the truck, neither of us will get sleep if I stay here," I said as I walked towards the door.

"Fine go, go back to Lympstone, what are you going to do in seven months when we have a baby together huh?" She shouted at me as I opened the door.

I closed the door and turned to look at her, "I don't know, I don't think you know how much of a strain you're putting on me with this."

"The strain on you?" She stood up and looked at me, "I am under more stress than you could ever imagine, I don't have a clue where you're going to be when the time comes to it, I don't know what I'm going to do, or if I could even keep my job going. Is that even getting into you?"

"Yes, it is," I sighed as I slumped down up against the door.

"Then why are we arguing?" She asked me as she walked over to me and placed my hand on her shoulder.

"Because we're both terrified?" I looked up at her smiling for no apparent reason.

"Yeah that sounds about right," She shook as she came down to my height on the floor.

"Well you still haven't said do you think we could make it work in a bigger house?" I asked her quietly.

"We'll have to ask Bailey," She dodged.

"I think we know what she thinks, I want to know what you think," I directed back at her holding her hand.

"I think we should look at the prices but yeah I think we could manage it together," She replied, "But it has to be around here or as close as possible for work."

"I'd be thirty six and only just buying my first house," I laughed.

"And me thirty one and doing the same thing," She laughed to me as she sat down next to me.

"What are we like," I said to her as she rested her head on my shoulder.

"A couple of idiots," she stopped laughing for a second.

"Maybe but at least we're idiots together."

"_Anchor what's the TOT of that reinforcement?" A raspy voice called out in the darkness of my slumber._

"_About twenty minutes, Sir!" I called out into the black._

_There was a long pause in the blackness leaving me in my thoughts until I started to hear loud explosions, "IDF!" A new voice shouted as I felt the explosions rattle my lungs._

"_Contact!" A third voice added to the fray followed by a stream of gunfire._

_I could feel my lungs tightening like someone was closing in around me I backed into what felt like an endless blackness, I felt something shake me to which I opened my eyes._

I saw Ashley stood over me I was clutching the pillow across my chest like a shield. "Arthur, are you okay?" She asked as she tried to help me but I couldn't respond, I could still ear the explosions and gunfire. "Arthur!" She shouted at me.

I heard Bailey rush into the room, "Fuck!" She shouted as she knelt down next to the bed pulling Ashley away, "Right I know you just wanna help him but right now he needs space, just stay there."

She kept her distance from me, "Hey Pomme, you're okay now there's nothing here, just us two."

I didn't entirely catch what she had said over the sounds of the gunfire but eventually the sounds stopped and my body relaxed, unfortunately I blacked out as I did.

I woke up at around half ten, seeing Ashley sat in the corner with her head in her hands, "Hey," I said gently as I sat up in the bed. She just looked up at me like I was a monster, "I'm sorry." I said to her feeling my gut wrench from what had happened.

"It's fine you're okay now," She said as she started to cry again.

"No it's not you shouldn't have seen me like that," I said to her as I joined her on the floor but she shuffled away from me.

"It's nothing I haven't seen before," She replied as she stood up and walked out of the door, I had to follow her.

I met Bailey in the kitchen just where Ashley had run to, "You feeling okay now?" Bailey asked as I sat down in a chair.

"Yeah I'm fine but I think that it's pretty much done with us now," I said as I heard Ashley lock the toilet door behind herself.

"Nah, she's just really quite scared," Bailey said as she poured me a glass of water and placed it on the table.

"I know I'd have run six miles by now," I told her.

"Yeah but she's seen it before," Bailey said to me as she sat opposite me on the table.

"Not like that I doubt, I mean people get violent when they have an attack like that," I said to her as I looked straight at her.

"I doubt she's seen it that close or to someone she's so close too," She reassured me as she took a swig from her coffee.

"How'd you know what was going on anyway?" I asked her.

"It wasn't being a bootlegger on tour that killed my brother, it was his time in civvies that he couldn't take so he ended it," She said as she looked down into her cup.

"Oh shit, I'm sorry," I said to her slumping back in my chair.

"It's fine, I've accepted it, he was just meant to be in the marines and when they kicked him for his illness then he couldn't take it," She shrugged.

"Still I can see why you resent the marines," I said to her.

"Resent?" She paused, "Fuck no, I respect what they do before John was a marine he was on the streets nothing but a dope smoking dead beat, they made him a man, gave me back my brother for a few years, that's all I wanted."

"Ah so you just come across as a bitter old lady," I poked my tongue out at her causing her to chuckle.

"Old?" She asked me. "I'm only twenty eight," She grinned.

"Damn I thought you were about the same age as Ashley?" I said to her as I looked around the room hearing the toilet door unlock.

"No there's a few years in it," Ashley said calmly as she came out into the room.

"You okay?" I asked her. She just nodded as she took a seat next to me at the table.

"I just have a few questions, so I can understand what happened to you a bit better," She said to me as she took my hand.

"Go ahead," I said feeling confident.

"What did you do when you lost your leg?" She probed.

"You know that I was a soldier," I said in an almost patronising way.

"Don't play games now, I want to know exactly what you were doing? I know you didn't come from the middle east you came from Europe," She said bluntly, but as I went to speak she continued, "And don't give me that I can't say shit, the government doesn't know what you get up to in your own house."

I sighed and slouched in the chair looking across at Ashley and Bailey, "You're right, where do I start, I wasn't in a traditional Army regiment, I was in the 22nd SAS, you know the ones who wear black hoods and storm embassies in their spare time." I watched them both nod, it didn't seem to come as a shock to either of them but then I went on to explain the mission, "We had been tasked to a country called Azerbaijan it's on the edge of the Caspian sea, we were sent to track down and kill, Haled Al-Assad, the man who nuked the Americans in Oman, but when things went south after we got him we had to go to Russia, essentially to stop an apocalypse before the world even knew it existed but again we averted it but it again went south and we ended up on a bridge over the river Ob' in the east, I stepped on a grenade and woke up in Birmingham. Didn't really look much different in places to be honest." I chuckled.

"And that's it the whole story, no bullshit?" Ashley said on the end.

I took a deep breath in knowing I had just betrayed my oath of silence, "Yep, that's it."

"Good, now did you want to go down to the estate agents to see how much a deposit is?" She then asked me.

"Erm…." I stammered before looking over to Bailey.

"I know you want a new house, I have a bit for the deposit too," She laughed.

"Ah, okay," I paused, "Yeah let's go." I said with actual impetus as if I actually had something to look forward too.

"Okay then." Ashley smiled.

It took about half an hour for us all to get dressed and get down to the estate agents, I had no idea what I was doing when the sales assistant sat across the table from them I had no idea what to say but we arranged a few house viewing which fit our needs for a house and came within our deposit limit but we still had to get a mortgage figured out with the bank, that however would have to some later.

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter and again I do wanna know if you think I am tackling the issues in this story with actual taste and not over doing it, I would appreciate the feedback as always **** But anyway I have to go and do some chemistry to now which sucks but until next time…PEACE!**


	10. Chapter 10 Go Time

Go time

**I hope you've been enjoying the story thus far this I think is a pretty poignant chapter in the story up to this point but there's still many things yet to come **** I really do appreciate all the support that this story has been getting and I hope it continues in future chapters **** but anyway onto the boring stuff I hope you enjoy the chapter and as always I don't own COD but I do own Anchor.**

My week with Ashley grew to a close with us looking over a few houses but we decided to leave it for a bit just so we could let the idea sink in. I arrived back on base at around half eight and I approached the billets where I could hear Wozzo going ape shit.

"You lot are a fucking disgrace!" He shouted as I walked in and placed my beret over my head, "What the fuck are you even doing here? You can't even clean your shit up?" I walked into the room where he was absolutely bollocking the newest group of candidates. "Ah, Colour Sergeant Jacks, can you show these fuck ups how to tidy their racks and get their shit together!"

"Yes, Warrant Officer Pitchings." I said as he left the room, I observed the candidates as the relaxed when he left the room. "Alright you lot, I'm Colour Sergeant Jacks and I will be in charge of PT and field craft, so can someone show me how to arrange their locker properly please?" I ordered across the silent room. I walked up to a tall man who looked rather ropey, "You show me," I ordered as I looked him in the eye he was about my height so he stood head and shoulders above most of the other candidates.

"Yes, Sir," He said in his droll Leeds accent. It took him about a minute and a half but he had organised his locker into the fashion that we deem appropriate in the marines.

"Look at what Mr. Sean Bean has produced for us," I laughed as I turned addressing the other candidates, "All is in order take note this is what we expect when you next get an inspection we expect this, take notes and get your shit together!"

"Yes, Colours!" is what greeted me in response as I walked into the gangway between the bunks.

"Good, now take note and get your shit in line for the next inspection Wozzo won't be so lenient next time." The corporal said to the candidates as he stood next to me in the room.

"Alright then, that's enough for one night," I said as I walked over to the door nodding for the corporal to follow, "Dismissed." We both exited the room leaving the candidates to it.

"So how was your week off?" The corporal asked me as we walked towards the NCO mess for a swifty.

"It was good," I smiled and nodded to him.

"So, come on, what is the verdict?" He then asked as we entered the room.

I ignored his comment for the moment as we headed over to the fridge and pulled out two Carling black label lagers, bottled because we are classy in the marines, from the depths of the fridge.

"Right you two, we're off out on field craft," Pitchings ordered as he burst into the mess as I opened the two beers.

"But we just clocked that group off and we got beer," The corporal said as he took a gulp from the bottle.

"One it's not that group and two that's not beer it's piss water, grow some balls and drink dark ale," He laughed as he left the room suddenly.

"What do we do with these?" The corporal looked at me confused.

"Chug is pussy!" I told him as I started necking the lager. The corporal did the same but I got it down me a few seconds faster than he had managed to be.

We rolled up outside the billet which had a several trucks and a set of mastiffs outside it, the lieutenant was stood ordering a group of final stage candidates into the trucks they were the group which I had started off with.

"Sir, what vehicle are we going in?" I asked as the corporal and I stood to attention.

"You're rolling in 2-2, the Mastiff with the L2 on top," He nodded over to the huge, twenty two and a half tonne vehicle, "Jacks, you're commander, maps on the blue force, Corps, you're driving that big fucker, don't ruin it," He smiled.

"Aye to that sir," I said as we headed over to the Mastiff.

"You two fuck wits ready for this," Pitchings demanded as he climbed in the driver's seat of 2-1 the lead Mastiff.

"Fuck you, we'll kick your fucking ass in if you don't get a move on," The Corporal said calmly as he climbed in the driver's seat of our Mastiff. "Let's do this," he then chuckled as he turned over the engine.

I casually looked back into the rear of the Mastiff which contained about eight of the candidates, "You boys ready?" I asked into the rowdy crowd.

"Hell yeah, Colours!" They returned in unison.

"Good, you will get fucked up on this one guys, but just remember that beret is what you're after and once you get it you'll never want anything else, I can promise you that!" I said laughing into the rear of the vehicle.

"All units, we are go to the AO, maintain speed 30 kph and twenty metre dispersion," The Lt ordered down the radio as we continued onto the main road outside the camp.

"So how are you doing peg leg?" One distorted voice echoed through the rear cabin of the Mastiff.

"Hey, don't get ahead of yourself arsehole," I laughed back to him as we rolled down the road towards the AO.

I could only hear him chuckle in the background, "That's you doing several laps of the pit tonight," Corporal said to the candidate as he drove down towards Woodbury Common.

"Ah fuck!" the goby twat shouted from the back of the mastiff.

I looked at the blue force and saw we still had about six km to the common but we would be spending the entire night, following day and that night too there.

We eventually arrived in pitch blackness, I climbed out of the commander's seat, "Alright everybody out in formation now!" I demanded. The group of candidates climbed out of the rear door of the Mastiff, "Now you, ya lanky cunt, time to run the pit and show us how it's done, lucky for you it's getting on for minus ten out here and the trench is freezing solid," I grinned at him as I walked us over to the pit, which had been lit up by chem lights illuminating it in an ominous green light. "Right this is the pit, one hundred yards of pure unadulterated bliss," I shouted out into the dimly lit field of heather.

"What's the pit? Colours," The Corporal shouted over the shivers of the candidates.

"The pit is a circuit, a rite of passage, a means to the end. You do ten laps of this over the next few days and we grill your arses to the fucking ground!" Warrant Officer Pitchings exclaimed over the whines of the candidates.

"It sure as fuck is," I said calmly, "Now! Pass me a 226," I ordered to the Corporal, who passed me a loaded 9mm Sig Saur P226, "Let's get this started," I said as I fired a single shot into the thin icy surface, shattering the ice, "Now Lanky get the fuck in!" I glared as the Lt turned on the headlights of his Mastiff. "Thank you, Sir!"

"What about hypothermia?" He shrugged.

"Shut the fuck up, I'm a medic," I shouted as I pushed the poor bastard in, "Keep moving or you're fucking dead!" I shouted at him as he froze upon breaking through the remaining ice.

"Come on, move now, mate!" Pitchings shouted as he walked alongside the candidate as he froze up more in the icy water.

"You fuck ups of marines, you're joining a brotherhood and you're going to let him do it alone? Marines never fight alone!" I yelled over the cries of Lanky.

"No Colours!" The remainder of the candidates shouted as they piled in one by one.

"You boys make me proud to be a bootlegger!" I shouted into the pool of freezing bodies.

It took them a minute to do their first lap at which point we pulled them for the face that by the time Lanky was done his body temp had dropped down to below 35oC, "They're only doing a lap tonight mate, and we can't risk them yet!" I ordered to Pitchings as eventually all the candidates finished the run.

"Get them all in the vehicles," The Lt ordered as he stepped out into the now completely frozen air. We piled them into all the vehicles and set the heating on slowly raising their temperatures.

"Get your other kit on lads it will help warm you up and pull out your smocks and use it as a blanket," I ordered when the men returned to their packs in the rear of the Mastiffs.

"Yes, Colours," The shivering candidates uttered as they changed and huddled together in the rear of the Mastiff.

I got out, to have a quick chat with the Lt who told me that the men could sleep in the Mastiffs tonight as they had put in a valiant effort in the pit. Which I relayed to them, greeted by a cheer.

I slept in the commander's seat waking up as the sun crept over the horizon shining a blinding light in through the front windows.

"Right you lot, get up!" I ordered into the back hearing the unorganised groans of the candidates, "Oi, I said get your fucking arse in gear!" I got more firm with them causing them all to cluster fuck out the back of the Mastiff.

They eventually got in line with the remainder of their training platoon and the CO started to explain how their day was going to go, "Right lads, this morning you're going to be going through some basic specialisations, like those of you going to machine gunners, mortars, marksmen and whatever the fuck else you guys are doing," He said jokingly as he pointed at me I knew I would be spending a bit of time with the medics and then a small amount of time with the minimi gunners. "Alright you boys take over now."

Warrant Officer Pitchings took the front and started barking, "Right, the corporal and sergeant Annlyings are taking the machine gunners, Colour sergeant Jacks and Lance Corporal Harding are taking the medics, Marksmen you're with me, Mortars you're with the CO and the RSM, good luck, comms you're with the CSM and finally advanced rifles you're with sergeants Alex and Deans."

"Yes, Warrant Officer!" The candidates shouted.

"Dismissed," Wozzo said calmly causing the candidates to turn to the left and then bumble around not quite knowing what to do.

I stepped forward and called out, "Medics with me!" I shouted as a small man approached me, I saw his single tab on his chest I knew who he was, "Harding?" I asked as he stood next to me.

"Yeah, let's show them how it's done," He said attempting conversation but before we could continue the candidates lined up in front of us.

"You lot on me," I said as I lead the group over to the Wolfhound. "Grab a bag and get your rifle, we're heading about one klick north of here to begin our exercise." I nodded at the Lance Corporal as I climbed into the commander's seat of the vehicle, "Get back here in one minute!" I ordered as Harding climbed into the driver's seat of the wolfhound. I waited for a minute and all the candidates to return rifles in hand and day sacks over their shoulders, they all piled into the back of the Wolfhound which had several seats in the back and one huge open compartment in the rear for things to be put in.

We drove through the boggy heather fields of Woodbury Common but we eventually arrived at a large open grass field where a group of RN doctors were waiting for us with their Merlin helicopter.

I filed the candidates out in front of the officer who stood tall and proud in his number fours, I then nodded at him, "I am Lieutenant Commander Kipling, and I'll be giving you a brief run through of basic first aid which you will need for future courses in becoming a medic." He knelt down next to a rescue dummy on the floor and started to give the basic of the course.

After about two hours I had to hike back to the base location to help out with the minimi training, when I arrived to could hear the thumping sounds of the 7.62mm GPMG which sent shockwaves through my chest like I was at a concert. I picked up one of the four training minimis that had been brought out for the session.

I cleaned the gun before the Corporal came over to me with a set of candidates who were ready to take up firing the minimi. "Okay, so this is the lighter machine gun used by the royal marines," I told them all jokingly, causing a few grunts, "I say lighter as it still weights about four pounds more than the L85, which sucks when you've been slogging the thing round for two weeks and baking your testicles in Helmand, not the sauce," I pulled open the dust cover showing off the inner working of the machine gun. "It functions pretty much the same as the GMPG, which I trust you've already had hands on with, only difference is it's chambered in 5.56mm, Corporal can you get me a belt."

"Yes, Colours," He replied with a small amount of authority in his voice. He returned two seconds later with a full fifty round disintegrating belt.

"Thanks mate," I handed the belt to a candidate and headed for the range where the GMPG guys had just finished. I got down on one knee next to the gun which had a bipod attached under the barrel. "Right lads," I said as I cracked open the top of the gun and placed the belt across the feeder, "Now I will give a single demonstration of how to fire the weapon and then it's your turns, aren't I nice, Corporal spot for me."

"Aye, Colours," He replied as he laid down next to me as I positioned myself behind the gun and peered through the magnified sight which was sat on top of the dust cover. "On your go, sergeant."

I took a deep breath and gently squeezed the trigger on the minimi letting rip a five round burst which took maybe a tenth of a second. "And it's as simple as that," I told the men as I stood up and dusted myself down. The rest of the candidates spent the next three hours hammering the surrounding targets until the cows came home, but soon after the CO called us back into the main area that we had set up it was time for the candidates run in the pit.

We stood at the precipice of the pit, the candidates shivered from their time in it the night before but it was warmer this afternoon about six degrees so we thought they might be able to run the whole thing.

"Right Lanky, you led last night, so you follow now, so get on with it!" The CO ordered as he ran the first candidate into the pit with a splash from his impact with the water. They ran through the pit for the best part of an hour achieving five more laps. They were up to six.

"Everybody out now! Time for PT!" I ordered as I watched their lips turn blue but not blue enough to make sure they were going to be able to do it without dying. They all climbed out and instantly started warming up first with a small run and then with a targeted hump in full gear with weapon.

We settled down for dinner at exactly sixteen forty five and had a full meal of chilli con carne and rice, with boil in the bag steam pudding for desert, afterwards we stood in a circle and the CO explained what was going to happen for the evening but just as he finished he ordered a further two laps. The temperature was now approaching freezing.

It took them half an hour to complete the course but they gave us two more laps and by seven we had all sat down in warm clothes by fires for some bonding they had come so far from those first tentative steps on becoming a marine, they actually now acted like marines, they cursed like marines and they even slightly looked like marines.

It got to half ten and they had all started to look like they were drifting to sleep and it was pitch black out. I stood up in the middle of the camp fires.

"Now you wanna be cunts, do you have what it takes to be the meanest, the cruellest, the most sadist unforgiving fuckers in Liz's creul gaze?" I shouted out into the faces of the candidates who looked mortified.

"Yes, Colour Sergeant!" They all eventually shouted in unison as they stood on their feet.

"Will you be able to one day say, yea, though I walk the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for I am the badest cunt in the god damn valley?" Pitchings continued across the fire pitch from me.

"Yes, Warrant Officer!"

"Then get you're shit on and get in my fucking pit!" The Lieutenant ordered causing a frantic rumble of movement followed by the shooting of the ice by the Corporal. It was now minus four degrees and dropping very fast.

"This is your last two hundred yards do this and you're in with us, this makes you one of us," I told them from the top of the pit looking down at their squalor.

"Yes, Colours," Is the groan that met me.

After another twenty minutes they finally started to emerge from their misery, broken and battered. "Well done boys!" We all cheered as they exited the pit, greeting each one with a hand shake and the CO handing them their new beret which they would treasure for the rest of their days.

They lined up cold but proud with the only dry item on them being the beret, all the NCOs and the CO took a row ahead of them and saluted their hard work.

"Welcome to the club, crew and brotherhood of the Royal Marine Corps, now let's knuckle down for the night shall we?" The Lieutenant said proudly as the men look very weary.

"Sir, yes, Sir!" They responded in a bellowing tone.

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter, it had to be a bit brutal but hopefully it paid off there will be more on the other side of the story with Ashley in the following chapter as I know some of you guys really like the human side of that part. But anyway I hope you have been enjoying the story so far and will enjoy what's to come **** until the next time…..PEACE!**


	11. Chapter 11 J J

J J

**I hope you've been enjoying the story so far I have enjoyed writing this chapter I know it's a sudden jump forwards but I think this story needs a kick forwards and I'll start with this one ****. As Always I don't own COD but I do own Anchor.**

It was just past Ashley's four month mark, she was now starting to show her baby bump was growing out and she looked more beautiful than ever. We spent the week picking out a house from the set we had shortlisted previously it didn't take the three of us long until we had picked out a four bedroom house in a small town just outside Lichfield in a town called Whittington. We made the move in a few hours setting up something that resembled a house. I made sure to spend the remainder of the week making sure Ashley was comfortable.

The next four months passed by rather quickly I came back twice seeing Ashley twice in that time calling her more frequently the further along she was in the pregnancy. It came to the eight months in and I was given six months leave by the Lt.

I got the train back into Birmingham and wound up outside the hospital at the time that Ashley would be leaving work, she didn't know that I would actually be arriving home, so when I wound up outside the hospital just as she rolled out with a huge baby bump she just broke down in front of me.

"What are you doing here?" She asked as she hugged me.

"I got time off for you and our baby," I smiled as I hugged her tightly not quite wanting to let go.

"But shouldn't we be getting the bus back soon?" She asked me.

"Nah, Bailey's on the way with our new car," I said to her excitedly just as I did I heard the hum of a tiny 1.2 litre engine, "Ah here she is."

Bailey finally rolled around the corner in the newish Renault Clio it had a few door dings but nothing too made it sounded mechanically soundish but it would do us for six months or so. So when the thing rolled to a halt in front of us.

"Shall we?" I asked as I opened the rear passenger door on the Clio.

"Yeah," she said in excitement as we piled into the back of the small car. We drove for about twenty minutes until we finally reached the house where I could dump my day sack and unload the stuff I had in it.

I laid in bed that night thinking on how it had been a full year since I had lost my leg and how much my life had changed in that time, I had become an expectant father, a marine again and had actually been able to move on.

I went out to the shops about two weeks later when I got a call on my mobile from Bailey, it just said, _Art Get back here now!_

I sprinted the half mile back to the house from the shops hearing Ashleys cries from inside the house, I just bashed my way through the door with a hell of a thud.

"Ash!" I shouted as I moved from room to room, "ASH!" I demanded louder.

"Oi, we're in here!" I heard Bailey shout as I ran towards where her voice had come from, it was the upstairs main bedroom.

I saw the door was slightly ajar where the cries were now emanating the loudest. I slid down next to Ashley who was in a considerable amount of pain and was obviously distressed as was Bailey.

"Right," I shouted calmly above it all, "Bailey, I need you to call 999 and get them to tell us what we need to do, I'll look after Ash."

"On it," She replied as she darted down to the phone and called up 999.

I kept by Ashley's side checking her over making sure she was stable, I may be a medic but I have no fucking clue how to deliver a baby. I just kept checking her over and tried to keep her calm, I started to panic however when she stopped breathing regularly and her pulse started to drop off.

"Shit, Bailey we need an ambulance she's stopped breathing!" I shouted down the stairs, as I started to give Ashley the CPR required but I could feel her slipping away. "Bailey when the fuck is that ambulance getting here?" I shouted down the stairs again.

"Three minutes!" She replied.

"Well tell them to hurry the fuck up we need them here five minutes ago!" I shouted back continuing the CPR and keeping Ashley there barely.

Eventually the ambulance arrived and the paramedics got Ashley in the back and off to the hospital with me in tow and Bailey following in the car. When we arrived Ashley was straight into theatre I stood in the viewing window, I watched as they cut our child from her stomach and place them in a crash trolley to be wheeled off.

The pushed straight past me with my motionless child on the cart, "Wait that's my baby," I said as they raced off, "What's happening?" I shouted. I went back to the glass seeing them sew Ashley back up and I saw her stir on the bad.

Eventually the surgeon came out to see me, "What's happening?" I asked him as he finished taking off all his equipment.

"Right, Ashley is stable now and your child is okay for now, she lost oxygen in the ambulance but there doesn't appear to be any brain damage but we have to get paediatrics to give her a good look over," He reassured me as I looked at Ashley on the operating table, "She'll be fine Mr. Jacks, she's a tough nut."

"Can I see her?" I asked.

"I don't think that would be good at this time," He told me.

"No I meant my child," I told him frantically.

"Yes that can be arranged come with me," he led with a smile on his face.

We walked through the A&amp;E foyer I spotted Bailey who was pacing back and forth, "Bailey!" I shouted across the crowed emergency room.

"How's Ash?" She asked as I continued following the surgeon.

"She'll be fine I'm off to see my daughter now!" I shouted in a rather excitable manner.

"Good luck mate," She replied with a smile.

I continued to follow the surgeon for a few minutes until we reached paediatrics, I was passed onto the paediatrics doctor who showed me to the cot where my daughter was laying she was not crying she was just laid asleep, she was my perfect beautiful baby girl.

"Can I hold her?" I asked him.

"Even better, you can give her the first feed if you want?" He replied with a smile on his face.

"Erm….. Ah…. Okay… How?" I asked as he presented me with a warm bottle of thick sma instant milk syrup stuff.

He picked her up and placed her in my arms and gave me the bottle, "Don't worry, once she gets onto it you'll pick it up." He smiled as I placed the nipple of the bottle near her mouth and she instantly tracked onto it and started suckling. I just wished Ashley could be there to see it, I constantly thought about her on the ward our roles had well and truly been reversed.

I sat next to the cot putting my child in a Babygro which was fetchingly pink and covered in little pandas, I spent my hours by her side she barely moved, barely made a sound only when she wanted feeding and changing even then there was no crying just a little squeak and a small grumble.

After about four hours the surgeon from earlier came to get me, "Mr. Jacks you can see Miss. Shindon can see you now, she's awake and wants to see you?"

I shot up and looked down at our daughter in the cot, "Can I bring her?" I asked.

"If it's okay with paediatrics I don't see why not," he smiled.

I asked the paediatrics doctor if I could take my daughter to see her mother and he said that as she had been feeding well then it would be okay for her to go, to which I scooped her up in a thick blanket with a bottle and spare load on nappies in my back pocket. I hurried over to the ward where Ashley was seeing her face light up and her eyes well up as I showed off out daughter to her.

She took her into her arms and held her tightly not wanting to let go, she fed her and then I sat down next to her, "So what do you want to call her?" I asked her and I took her hand and placed the other on the little girl's chest.

"Erm…. How about Jessica?" She said as I looked over to her.

"Jessica Jacks," I laughed a bit, "Jessica Jacks, kinda got a ring to it," I laughed more as I looked at our little girl.

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter and have been enjoying the story up to this point this is just a shortish chapter to kick the story further with a nice little ending but will it stay all pretty….. well you'll find out soon :p. Please feel free to review I really do like the feedback and what you guys think of the story. Until next time though….PEACE!**


	12. Chapter 12 Problems

Problems

** Right new chapter, first one for about a month I believe hopefully it's okay, I know this is a very slow story but it has to be for what I have set up hopefully in like the next 2/3 chapters I aim to have the story progressed up to a certain point but I thought this story would only last about six or seven chapters and have had the last one written for about three four months now :s but anyway I will get to it eventually even if the slow stuff has to happen first**** anyway I hope you enjoy and I don't own COD but I do own Anchor.**

After about two weeks we finally were able to take Ashley and Jessica home once again Bailey took us back to the house and we set up Jessica's room. She had a little pink cot which I spent the first few weeks pretty much stuck to; she was so small and so perfect. I did keep tabs on Ashley who was still recovering but by a week back home she was up and about.

I continued to speak to Jessica as she laid in her cot she just looked up at me she was very quiet not really crying too much but she was soothed easily if she did begin to cry. One night when she had reached about a month old she had woken up and was crying I managed to get her back to sleep but whenever I put her down she started crying again so I spent the night laid on the floor with her laid across my chest not really asleep but not awake either.

I didn't think anything of it until about two weeks later when she was laying in her cot and she did not respond when I spoke to her, I put it down to her being asleep but she would normally roll towards my voice if I spoke but now nothing. I told Ashley and we immediately rushed to the hospital.

We waited in A&amp;E for hours waiting to be seen but eventually we did get seen, it was a young female doctor she had a white and red striped blouse on with black trousers, her hair was cut in a dark brown bob. She checked over Jessica eventually once she had checked everything she gave both Ashley and I a very solemn look.

She took a deep breath and sighed, "I'm sorry, it appears that Jessica had some undiagnosed fluid inside her ears which has now perforated her ear drums and misaligned the inner ear bones," She paused for a minute and Ashley grasped my hand tightly, "She is now completely deaf in both ears, we can see what we can do but it's not likely that she will ever be able to hear." She finished as Ashley kissed Jessica on the forehead whilst she sat on my lap.

"Is there anything that can be done?" I asked her trying to keep Jessica stable and Ashley upright.

"If we can get her on the waiting list for cochlear implants then we could give them a go but there is a very long waiting list and she'd be school age by the time she could actually hear again which would set her back years in terms of speech," The doctor replied looking deeply into Jessica's eyes who were none the wiser as to what we had just heard.

"Could we go private?" I asked her.

"You could but this procedure is very expensive, it's almost one hundred thousand pounds for the NHS to perform it, for you to perform it yourself it would be an astronomical figure," she replied.

"We can save up!" Ashley exclaimed.

"No we can't Ash," I said to her as I held her, "we have just taken out a mortgage and we don't have much money as is."

"Then what are we meant to do?" Ashley sobbed as she broke down in her chair.

"We will manage, we can learn to sign," I paused as she buried her head into my shoulder, "will you treat her any different?" I asked her.

"Of course not she's our beautiful little girl," She replied.

"Well I won't treat her different either." I said placing my hand on Ashley's lap and Jessica reached across to grab Ashley's arm, "We are a family now," I smiled at her as I stood up, "Thank you, Doc, how will we be informed about the implants?"

"You will receive an information pack and some lessons on how to do very basic sign," She said as she got up to open the door, "I hope this all ends well for you."

My time at home with Ashley and Jessica was rapidly drawing to a close I spent my last few days making sure that Ashley and Jessica were as comfortable as possible because I was going to be going back to Lympstone for at least eight weeks.

It came to my last day I was out for once just on the way to the shops to get a few bits and pieces but this would be more eventful than my previous trips to the shops, I was going down a small path which lead down beside the canal I saw a couple of men couldn't have been more than twenty five they had a small animal with them when I got closer I saw that it was a little puppy couldn't have been more than six maybe eight weeks old but that didn't stop the men from kicking the crap out of the poor bastard.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" I shouted over to them as I approached.

"None of your fucking business you stupid cunt!" the taller of the man replied.

"Oh you're in my path so I think it is my business," I told them as I continued to approach.

"Stay fucking back!" The shorter one exclaimed as he looked up at me with the dog pinned to the floor.

"And if I don't," I added whilst walking closer.

"Or you'll get it!" He then told me as he stood up and pulled a blade out from the pocket of his hoodie.

"Oh so you're getting real serious aren't you," I said as I started to brace myself.

"Fuck off!" The taller man told me as he barrelled towards me, I stepped just left of him as he tried to throw a punch at me. He missed and whilst he was off balance I gave him a right hook under his ribs, causing him to collapse on the floor.

"Now leave that dog alone!" I demanded as the tall man rolled on the floor, the shorter one then turned on me with his blade. He kept slashing at me but I just kept parrying him after ten or so slashes he started to tire and so I could grab his arm with the blade and I put my CQC training to good us. Grabbing his wrist and his tricep on his right arm whilst simultaneously stamping on his right knee, I could feel the joint pop as it gave way under the man, through my boot I could feel the tendons and ligaments rearrange as his face winced in pain. After he was completely collapsed I twisted his wrist feeling it crack as it inverted causing him to drop the lade on the floor.

I turned my attention to the dog who was unconscious on the floor and had a blooded mouth, "Poor bastard, come one," I said as I scooped up the almost lifeless remains. I ran home to Ashley with the dog in arms and smashed on the door.

Bailey answered as I rushed inside, "What's that?" She asked as I ran into the kitchen.

"A puppy, two guys were beating the shit out of it and I couldn't leave it," I told her.

"No you're right we need to get it to a vet," She replied as I continued to check over the pup.

Ashley came down into the room with Jessica in her arms, "Why have we got a dog?" She asked as she placed her hand on the dog's back and stroked him.

"I found him with his previous asshole owners," I said to her as I looked down at the dog, "We need to get him to a vet."

"Okay I'll get the car going," Ashley said as she placed Jessica in Bailey's arms.

I ran out to the car when I heard it turn over, I placed the puppy on my lap with a blanket around it. It took about ten minutes to get to the vet in the town but when we got there I just leapt out of the car and bolted inside the vets.

"I need a vet now, I found this little guy on the bank of the canal, he was beat up pretty bad," I told the nurse at reception.

"Alright follow me," She said in a rush as she banged on an office door and we rushed into what looked like an operating room.

After about ten seconds a vet entered the room in green clothes and immediately started looking over the puppy, "Looks like a strong boy, German Shepard cross?"

"Yeah two guys were beating it down by the canal," I told him as I stepped back.

"Probably trying to get him to do man work," he told me as I looked down at the mangled pup.

"Can you fix him up?" I asked as the vet continued to check the pup over with his stethoscope.

"Sounds and feels like he have a few broken ribs and an punctured lung," The vet told me as he put a tube down the dogs throat and called the nurse over.

"We'll need you to wait outside, sir," The nurse said calmly as she ushered me out of the door.

I waited for about four hours just pacing with Ashley sat on the chair calling Bailey to see how Jessica was.

It came to about five o'clock and the vet came out with a bundle in a blanket, "He's made it, he's really weak but he's made it," He nodded with a smile on his face but his face suddenly dropped, "The question is what do we do now?"

"Erm…" I looked at Ashley who was sat on the chair next to me.

"Are we allowed to keep him?" She asked.

"If you're willing to take him in," The vet replied.

"That's great then," I smiled as I offered to take the dog from the vet.

He handed it to me and then grabbed something from behind the desk, "If I just give you this," He said as he handed me a card which had been stamped, "Its when you need to bring him in for his vaccinations and a check up to see how his rib is doing but apart from that I don't think there's anything else to do," he smiled, "Oh and we can put this operation through the RSPCA but it would be appreciated if they received a donation for their work."

"That's fine we will do it," Ashley spoke for us as we looked down at our new bundle.

By the time we got home the dog was more with it, by no means fully awake but he was definitely with it, he was rolling his head in the blanket whilst being sat on my lap with Jessica sat on Ashley's lap right next to us.

"So what are we going to call him?" Bailey asked as she stroked his head in the blanket.

"Erm….. fuck knows," I said to her as the puppy started to move in the blanket.

"Mind your language," Ashley said as she covered Jessica's ears.

"What about lucky?" Bailey than asked.

"He's not a spaniel!" Ashley protested.

"You got any better ideas?" Bailey then asked her sarcastically.

"Yeah I do as a matter of fact, Fenrir!" She said confidently.

"What the hell is a Fenrir?" I asked her.

"It was a Norse mythical wolf," She replied with a smile on her face.

"Fairy snuff, well I kinda like it, Bailey, what do you think?"

"Yeah that sounds good to me," She smiled and plucked Jessica off Ashley's lap, "What do you think of that?" She asked Jessica as she lifted her up in the air. Jessica just laughed as she did Fenrir started stirring in his bundle, first his front paws lead him which was followed by his head and massive floppy ears.

"Looks like someone has come out to see what's going on," Ashley laughed as he started nervously looking around, "Come on, it's okay," She said soothingly as the pup slowly crepy out and onto the sofa in-between Ashley and I.

"Hey there little fella," I said as I tried to stroke him but was met with the razor like puppy teeth, I looked down at my thumb which had blood trickling down between it and my index finger.

"I guess he doesn't like men," Bailey said to me as she grabbed me a tissue to stem the blood.

"Yeah I guess so," I said as I kept the tissue over my cut, I then put my hand down next to the puppy with my fingers splayed, I kept my nerve and the puppy kept his distance, Bailey went to the kitchen and grabbed me some of the gammon joint, that we had eaten over the week. I pressed it under the palm of my hand, eventually the pups smell and hunger got the better of him and he came to sniff, I edged my now tissued up hand towards him to which he was nervous but I did land my hand on his head and gave him a stroke after which he got the gammon. "Gotcha." In that moment everything seemed like it would be okay. But I did not know how wrong I would be.

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter so, it appears Anchor is settling down into family life but for how long I wonder and what will happen next, will Jessica get the implants? Will Fenrir actually learn to trust Anchor? Find out soon **** …PEACE!**


	13. Chapter 13 Hidden Friends

Hidden Friends

**Right, long ass chapter coming right up, hopefully this attracts some more attention than previous chapters have gotten but hopefully this one is better. I will let this get on now so I don't own COD but I do own anchor and enjoy!**

Life was going great, Jessica and Fenrir celebrated their first birthdays and Ashley and I were still going strong. We were bending around Jessica's ear problems but above all else Ashley was pregnant again, she was only three months gone by that point but she was happy, I was happy. Although at that point, I did not know who was about to walk back into my life.

I should have realised the signs when Jessica received an unmarked present on her birthday, it was a teddy bear nothing out of the ordinary but it had wrapping paper made of fake money and had small mini soaps inside I didn't take much notice of it I thought it was a gag from my sister or something.

It eventually came to the birth of our second child, it was another girl her name was Elise, she was almost just as perfect as Jessica, I guess that she just couldn't have been as perfect as her but that didn't mean I don't love her, she was my daughter.

The joy however was short lived at two weeks after her birth she was sat in her cot and suddenly started having violent convulsions, Ashley and I panicked, we called an ambulance but by the time it arrived she was already in a coma, induced by the fit.

We spent a further month at the hospital watching our little girl she was on oxygen and had a little heart monitor on she looked just as though she was asleep, Ashley was falling apart she didn't want to leave the hospital or go anywhere near Jessica she thought it was her fault that both of the children had defects. After a week at the hospital we finally had a verdict on what was wrong with our daughter, she had an inflamed brain caused by meningitis, instantly after the verdict both Ashley and I knew what was coming, it had been a week since her seizure the disease was taking hold. Over that night the worst finally broke Elise died of septicaemia in the end took her life from her. Her funeral was short she was cremated in the hospital crematorium we took her ashes back to the house, Jessica greeted her little laugh which just made us cry.

Ashley clutched onto Elise's ashes and did not let go of them even when Jessica was grabbing at her hands, however Ashley was just focused on the tiny jar which contained our daughter.

"Ash, we're home," I whispered to her nervously whilst clutching onto Jessica who just wanted to be in her mum's hands. I sat Jessica across one of my arms and I put my free hand on the glimmering silver jar, "Let me take it, she wants to see you," I told Ashley as I grasped the jar and handed Jessica over almost simultaneously.

"You going to be okay Ash?" Bailey said quietly as she looked into Ashley's vacant eyes, Ashley just nodded back at her to which Bailey looked at me, "You okay?"

"Not exactly but we just have to get on with our lives," I told her sounding colder than I ever had done before.

"How do we do that?" Ashley asked me with tears in her eyes.

"We have to Ash," I said to her softly as I looked down at the jar, "We will never forget but it can't be undone."

"But I want that so badly," She said as she broke down crying again. Bailey took Jessica into the kitchen and started playing with her.

"I know you do, baby, but we have to move on with our lives," I said to her as I paced my arms around her and she collapsed into my chest.

"I don't know how to though, I'm scared," she sobbed as I tightened my grip around her.

"I know," I said to her as I lifted myself away from her and looked her in the eyes, "She may not have a future but we do, we don't have to let go just yet we can keep her with us forever if we want and Jessica will know of her sister. Now I'm going to put this on the bedside table you're going to go in there and play with our wonderful daughter….. and Bailey," I joked at her which made her giggle. I then nodded at her to move and I walked upstairs to pop the jar on our bedside table.

Just as I placed the jar down I heard a knock at the door, so I rushed down the stairs which ended just at the door, I could see two people through the glass on the door but couldn't make out who they were. I opened the door and my mouth instantly dropped, "It's good to see you Anchor," the Scottish drawl babbled from the tall muscular man who stood before me.

"Who is it Art?" Ashley asked through from the kitchen.

"Oh it's no one, I'm just going out to take a walk to clear my head," I shouted back to her as I continued to stare into the blue green eyes in front of me. I made him step aside as I stepped out and closed the door. After I made sure the door was shut I threw my fist towards the man who was taken a bit off guard, my knuckles caught the edge of his jaw knocking him backwards.

The older man of the two just lit up his cigar and watched the fight unfold, I was tackled to the floor by the larger more muscular man who punched me once around the face but I managed to flip us over after he had leaving me on top, to which I started laying down a hammering of blows into his face.

After a few seconds of the pummelling I saw I had blood on my knuckles and my lip was pulsating so I dabbed my index finger on it whilst maintaining a grip on the large man's lapel, "Fuck!" I shouted as I threw the man back onto the pavement.

"Are you two quite finished?" The old man croaked as he puffed out a cloud of smoke from his cigar.

"Why the fuck are you two here?" I exclaimed at the old man as I climbed off the walking muscle.

"We were hoping for a better response then that," The old man said quietly as he flicked the ash off his cigar.

"You abandoned me in that hospital in Birmingham!" I shouted at his as I barrelled towards him.

"We weren't allowed in," The muscle said as he climbed up and dusted himself down bleeding from his upper lip.

"We sent you the presents we thought that you would be intelligent enough to get that hint," the old man said sarcastically as he placed the half burn cigar back in its tin.

"That was you?" I asked as I looked confusedly between the two men.

"Yes, you muppet," the old man told me bluntly.

"Why are you here? Why now?" I asked them.

"Maybe I can explain that," An even older man said as he climbed out of a black SUV across the street from my drive way.

"And you are?" I asked not really caring who he was.

"Lieutenant General Hershal von Shepard, US Army 75th Rangers," He explained as he came closer to my house carrying a file, "I see you've already reacquainted yourself with Captain Price and Lieutenant MacTavish," He nodded as he gestured back towards his car.

"Lieutenant?" I queried.

"Yeah," Soap smiled as he now had rank over me once again.

"Alright so they made a proper bastard out of you," I smiled back both of us with fairly bloody mouths.

"I did," The old officer said standing proudly in his class A's.

"You must be fucking stupid then," I gestured to him as I looked at Soap who hadn't fared well in Russia either clearly, "I take it getting malleted left you a bit tenderised then," I paused for a split second, "mate."

Soap reached up to stroke along the ridge left in the top of his skull running down to his left eye, "Aye you could say that mate," he replied as he looked down at the small amount of metal that was poking out of the bottom of my jeans, "Sorry about your loss."

"It's alright, I've got over it by now, I kinda like it, really brings out my eyes," I laughed at him.

"Not that," He just said solemnly.

"Oh right, yeah a bit of a shock," I said lowering my head, "So why are you here?" I asked to the general.

"We need you," Price butted in ahead of the general, probably why he never made Major.

"For what?"

"A special task force, I disclose much more for now I just need your word on it and we can set everything in motion," Shepherd nodded to me.

"So you expect me to just drop everything here to gallivant off to join some fucking task force fucktards, if you know everything that's happened to me recently then you'll know that Jessica is deaf and we have to wait or save up so she can have an operation to fix it and Ashley is now lower than I've ever seen her before, plus I have my commitments in the marines," I explained aggressively to the old man as he simply stood there with his arms crossed.

"That's why we're making you an offer," Shepherd said as he passed me the file that he had been holding onto the whole time.

"Oh, and what's that?" I asked him as I opened the file.

"How does two hundred thousand dollars a year tax free sound?" He asked as I looked over the very vague file, it was just telling me what I already knew only it had a strange seal in the corner it had a winged dagger much like the SAS but it was on a spade with a skull on top and was encircled by a wreath.

"Not good enough," I told him as I started to walk back to my house.

"How about we fix your daughters hearing?" He shouted over to me forcing me to stop dead in my tracks.

"How could you do that?" I asked him not turning around.

"Simple arrange for her to be put at the top of the list or get the money to get it done privately, our organisation has access to more funds than you will ever know of," He smiled as I looked over my shoulder.

"Why would you do that?"

"Because we want you and we will pay for a country to be moved if that will get you to join the team. So can I count on you?"

"I'll think about it," I told him as I continued walking back to my house.

"Take this if you change your mind," Price said as he threw a small card over towards me which I caught and slipped it into my pocket.

When I walked back in Bailey, Ashley and Jessica along with Fenrir were all still in the kitchen, I walked in placing the file down on the table and moved across the room towards where Ashley and Bailey were sitting playing with Jessica. Fenrir came over to me and sniffed me from toe to as far as he could reach standing on his hind legs, he wasn't fully grown yet, but he still stood about four and a half feet tall on his back legs.

Ashley walked over to me and looked at the brown file on the table, "Where you been?" She asked as she turned the file trying to decide what it was.

"I'll talk about it to you later," I said to her as I stroked Fenrir around his ears, which he liked the most.

"Where have you been?" She asked as she checked out my split lip.

"I bumped into some old friends."

"Looks like their fist bumped into you," She told me as she licked her thumb and cleaned the blood off my lip.

"Yeah you could say that, we had a few differences to work out."

"Like what?"

"Just a few bits and pieces, it's what I have to talk to you about," I said to her, "But we that will be later, I promise, I need to talk to you." She nodded as I walked over to Jessica and scooped her up.

It came to me putting Jessica to bed with just thinking about what could happen if I took the job and could give her, her hearing back. As I tucked her in, Ashley came into the room shining a ray of light into the room which was partially obscured by her shadow.

I turned to face her and she was holding onto the file, "Have you read it?" I asked her as I walked over to her and kissed her on the forehead.

"No, I wanted you to explain it to me," She replied as she led me through to our bedroom.

"Okay so I'll get the blow right out of the way first, I didn't go for a walk earlier, it was just outside the house, two of my former colleagues."

"From before you lost your leg?" She asked.

"Yeah," I nodded, "They are apparently now a part of a wider I'm guessing NATO run group of soldiers under some General Shepherd."

"Why did they come now?" Ashley queried as she looked down at the file.

"They seem to know everything, I've not spoken to them since I blacked out and yet they knew where I was, about you, about Jessica and about Elise," I told her angrily as I licked my dried lips trying to compose myself.

"How?"

"Because the world they belong to is a dirty place full of lies, deceit and keeping tabs on people even if they've been out for a while."

"So they've been watching?"

"Indirectly but yes."

"So what did they say to you?"

I looked down at the file and opened it for her to see but it was dark and so I had to turn on the light, "They offered me a place to join them," I said pausing to let her take in that sentence.

"No not if they're going to take you away," She welled up.

"Listen I haven't said yes but the offer is still on the table."

"But what do you get out of it?"

"A lot of money, two hundred thousand dollars a year," I took a deep breath for the second part of the office.

"We don't need money right now!" She held her ground.

"I know that's why they're also offering the money to give Jessica her cochlea implants," I gulped whilst nervously shaking on the bed. Ashley didn't respond she was just sat stunned in the wake of what she had just heard; I couldn't blame her I was when I was told.

"That's a big incentive," She said gasping for air.

"I know that is the only reason I've considered it," I told her quietly.

"I don't blame you it's all I've wanted the whole time we've known about her condition," She replied sounding like she would condone me going with Price and Soap again.

"I don't know how long it will last and I can't promise that I'll be home for Christmas," I said to her as I looked her straight in the eyes.

"Wait are you actually considering doing this?" She said distraughtly.

"We need that money Ash and it's only for Jessica," I paused, "If it wasn't for that then I wouldn't be considering it, you and her are my everything, simple as that if it helps you two then that's it that's my life, plus if I don't take this they'll be back and the offer won't be as good next time."

She started to well up, "can't you find out more before you decide?"

"That's not how their world works babe," I said back as I hugged her tightly.

"How long would you have before they took you if you say yes?"

"A day maybe two," I said to her as she buried herself deeper in my chest, I could feel her tears soaking through my t-shirt, "It will be okay, the two hundred thousand should be up front, so it would not matter if I'm there for two weeks or three months."

"That's not helping," she spat back.

"I know it's not I'm just trying to justify this to myself," I told her as I looked down at the carpeted floor when I heard the door creak and the now quite large Fenrir wandered into the room to see what was going on. "Come here boy," I said to him excitedly as he jumped up on the bed on the other side of me to Ashley and licked my face, he then started to nuzzle Ashley as she cried.

"Hey, boy," She said as she lifted her head off me and instantly got a good licking from Fenrir.

"You wouldn't be totally alone here see," I said as I stroked him under his back leg causing him to cock it.

"Yeah I guess," She paused and looked at me, "So are you doing this?" She asked.

I leant over to the bed side table with Elise's ashes on top and opened the top draw moved some of the items around and pulled out a small box, "I'll be coming back for you," I nodded at her as I looked down at the box shifting myself off the bed and onto the floor, "I was waiting for the right time to do this, I guess no time like the present," I smiled nervously, I could feel my heart jumping up into my throat as I lent onto one knee with my prosthesis holding my up. "Ashley," I paused to open the box, "Will you marry me?" I asked as I closed my eyes trying to calm my nerves.

"Oh my god," She said excited as she pulled the ring from its foam holder and slid it onto her own finger, "You're an idiot but," She paused again, I swear this time was to just hope I'd go into cardiac arrest just so I wouldn't go but she finally ended with, "Of course I will!"

"Great," Finally releasing my nerves in a chuckle as I took the ring back off her finger and showed her what was written inside the rim.

_Forever in your heart._

"Oh wow," she said as she started tearing up and flung her arms around my neck throwing me well off balance and onto the floor to which she tumbled after, with a crash.

"Hey!" A voice sounded from the next room, "What are you two doing in there?" They knocked, ""Wait I don't actually want to know!"

"Bailey get in here!" Ashley shouted as she climbed up off me.

Bailey took a few minutes to run into the room, she didn't have enough time to do up her dressing gown, which meant Ashley and I were greeted with a full frontal from her, "Oh shit," She said as she collected both sides of the gown and covered herself.

"Nothing we haven't seen before," I chuckled as I climbed up, but Ashley was already waving her hand in Bailey's face like a flail before I had actually gotten to my feet.

"So you did it then?" Bailey asked me as held Ashley's hand looking at the ring.

"You knew?" Ashley asked in shock, to which Bailey nodded, "Bitch!" Ashley exclaimed as she looked down at the ring in stunned stare.

"So you doing it then?" Bailey asked past Ashley.

"Wait how do you know?" I queried.

"These walls block nothing, I heard you making Elise," She said waving inverted commas in the air.

"Ah okay and yeah I think I am but it's going to wait until morning for now," I told her seriously I want a few more hours here before I step off.

"What about the bootneckers?" Bailey asked.

"I think my contract may have already been terminated there," I said to her.

"How so?" She asked again.

"These are rather persistent bastards," I told her.

"How do you know them by the way?" Ashley decided to ask.

"They were my squad mates, they were there when my leg was blown to Timbuktu."

"Are you close to them?" Bailey asked now putting me in the hot seat.

"We were yeah, we went through a lot together, but I haven't seen or spoken to them in what two and a half maybe three years now, but apparently they've been keeping tabs on me, they know where I live and who I live with."

"That's a bit stalkerish," She chuckled.

"Yeah tell me about it but it did solve the mystery of the monopoly money and the soap on a rope."

"Why does it?" Bailey asked again.

"What is this grill me night?"

"You fucking know it, bitchtits," She smirked back at me.

"One's called Price and the other is Soap, it's just a reference to them."

"Ah fair enough," She said as she turned to walk out of the door, "I'm off to bed because I need my beauty sleep."

"Damn right you do," I told her as Ashley closed the door behind her, "Back to bed?" I said to Ashley as I collapsed back on the bed.

"Done deal," Ashley said as she joined me on the bed.

Morning came way to quickly I was woken up at seven by a crying Jessica but she was quick to sooth once she was picked up and fed something, after about an hour Ashley clambered out of bed and Bailey soon followed. I spent the morning out with Ashley and Jessica but once we had lunch I knew it had to be done.

I wandered out into the garden with the card that I was given and rang in the number on it, a lone voice answered with heavy static behind it, "Shovel," They said simply almost masked by static.

I was stunned for a second looking at the card for some sign of what to reply, eventually I spotted a shovel in the corner with a sledgehammer crossed over it so I replied, "Sledgehammer."

"Two zero hotel romeo sierra break alpha foxtrot india," They replied before swiftly hanging up.

"What the fuck?" I said into my phone as I looked around wondering what had just happened.

"You okay?" Ashley asked as she slid shut the patio door.

"Yeah I'm okay just a little confused," I replied to her as I put my phone and card back in my pocket.

"Why? What happened?" She asked.

"They just gave off a load of numbers and letters," I said confused.

"What numbers?"

I wrote them down on a piece of paper, "Twenty hundred hours, what doe mean?" I asked Ashley, she gave me a blank look in response, "Await further instructions," It finally clicked, so I had eight hours to enjoy with my family. "Did you fancy going to Birmingham for a bit?" I asked Ashley just to break the silence.

"Yeah we can do," She smiled.

"Have a good family day out," I smiled back as I opened the door for her to go back inside, "Hey Bailey!" I shouted through the house.

"What?" She shouted from upstairs.

"You wanna come Birmingham with Ash and me and the kids?"

"Are you referring to Fenrir as a kid?" She asked as she came down stairs hold Jessica.

"Yeah," I chuckled as I pulled his chain off the hook and clipped him on.

"I'm up for it," She then said as Ashley grabbed the push chair for Jessica and went out to put it in the car. I took Fenrir out, put him in the back seat as Bailey climbed across and Jessica was strapped in.

We spent most of the day in Birmingham getting dinner out along with a few snacks for the ride home to which Fenrir decided he would help himself, we got home at about half seven but sat on the opposite side of the street to my house was an SUV the same one that had been there the previous day.

"They're here already," I sighed as we climbed out of the car, not letting the SUV know that I had seen them although I think they already knew.

"You still have half an hour," Bailey said bluntly as she helped Ashley carry the push chair back in the house and I took Jessica.

"Yeah, I plan to not leave until eight," So I put the kettle on and sat with Ashley but dead on eight o'clock a knock at the door rang through the house.

"Shit," I whispered as I looked at Ashley who was welling up and was on the verge of crying but she was holding herself together that was until I hugged her, "I love you," I told her as I felt my heart wanting to pull me towards the house, "I will be back for you." I told her as I went to answer the door leaving them in the kitchen.

"You ready?" Price asked me as I pulled the door open.

"No but I won't be any more ready in an hour's time, so let's get this fucking started," I told him as I walked out of the door and followed him to the SUV.

"McTavish, hit it," Shepherd said from the front passenger seat.

**End of this chapter but this story still has some life in it yet I hope you've been enjoying it **** please leave a review and tell me what you thought I really appreciate them **** but that's it for now so until the next one…..PEACE!**


	14. Chapter 14 The Oregon Trail

The Oregon Trail

**I hope you've been enjoying the story and series so far hopefully you can see where this is going now, although that said I hope I can surprise you a bit, I'm not really following the canon set out in the book that covers the inter game years, mainly because I haven't read it, but I hope you enjoy my telling of the story. But anyway onto the real stuff, I don't own COD but I do own Anchor!**

We drove into the night eventually reaching the Scottish boarder, "Now Soap no making haggis out of the American," Price said as he thundered along the A74 up into the belly of the beast.

"Aww you ruin all the fun," Soap chuckled next to me as we started slowing down on the approach to Lockerbie. I spotted a sign post as we passed through the town not saying a word, through fear of the name, it pointed out that it was still seventy two miles to Glasgow.

I looked out of the rear passenger window seeing nothing but fields, "Well we're well and truly in Pictland now," I laughed over to Soap who was twiddling his mobile in his hands.

"'Ey those men we're heroes," He looked at me scowling, "I had a poster of William Wallace on ma' wall when I was a wee one."

"But…..But," I stopped him, "At your weird little child touching catholic comprehensive did you shout when running at sports day, you can touch my willy but ye' can noy take ma' virginity!" I said holding my hands in the air in fists.

"Do you really think that some priest was gonna touch me?" He quizzed back with a grin on his face, "I touched that fucker and then went to the monastery for a bit more."

We were both now laughing in the back of the car, "What's so funny?" Shepherd said angrily back into the rear of the vehicle.

"Erm nothing, Sir," Soap replied trying to stop laughing but he couldn't seem to.

"About ten miles from Glasgow, Shepherd," Price said from the driver's seat and continued driving onwards towards the fourth largest city in the UK.

"Good, continue on this highway and get onto the M8," The General said calmly.

"It's a motorway," Soap corrected.

"Now, now, Soap, we need to go simple for this American," Price said sarcastically as he turned off onto the M8 heading towards Paisley.

"Get on take the next exit," Shepherd butted in on Price.

The view from a top the Erskine Bridge over the river Clyde was almost magical, you could see right up the river towards Clydebank and on the other side out to the west you could see right up to where the river widens out into the Lochs.

"Beautiful isn't it?" Soap said over my shoulder as we watched the surrounding countryside go by.

"It's nice but it hasn't got shit on the Thames estuary," I chuckled.

"Yeah if you like shopping trolleys and dead sea gulls," Price replied as he exited off the bridge and turned on the A814 which lead towards Garelochhead.

"Thirteen more miles," Shepherd butted in again.

"Wait all that's up here is HMNB Faslane," I said to Shepherd as he checked his map covering it up as we started seeing signs for the base.

"That is our destination," Shepherd replied as he folded the map away on our approach to the base.

"Can I find anything else out yet?" I asked him.

"Not yet, but you will in time," He chuckled as we approached the outer barrier of the base.

"Halt!" One of the two soldiers at the check point shouted as he readied his SA80 whilst the other raised his rifle and looked down the scope into our car. We slowed down to an eventual halt with the soldier who shouted walking towards us whilst his friend took over watch. "What is your intent here?" He asked into the driver's side window but Price just looked across to Shepherd who got out a base pass.

"They're with me," He said sharply as I looked at the soldier he had a marine dagger on his lapel.

"Hey bootlegger, what tab are you from?" I asked him from the rear whilst he waved for the gate to be opened.

"Four three, I used to be in one ass," He replied briefly looking into the rear of the car.

"I was in one agram, when were you in that?"

"About 2009," He shot back pretty quick.

"After my time then mate," I laughed as we started rolling.

"Gentlemen can we refrain from fraternising with the guards?" Shepherd ordered from the front seat, "I know you were a commando but now you're not so these people mean nothing to you."

"Roger," I accepted reluctantly, these men I could see around me were my brothers in arms they would stand by my side and fight just as I would there's but hopefully this shit wouldn't take long and I could get out before the shit hit the fan and made a mess.

"Price, stop at this next gate," Shepherd ordered it was over six hundred metres between gates so we had time to kill as we were only travelling at five miles per hour.

"Roger, pulling up at next gate," Price pulled us up about ten metres away from the guard post in an allotted bay guided in by one of the guards who didn't actually have a rifle he just had a Sig in his holster.

"Go time," Soap whispered as Shepherd led the chorus of door opening.

Shepherd led us towards the guards who were much more relaxed than the ones at the previous gate, they had their weapons lowered but I don't know if that was just because Shepherd was in full dress or just because he didn't feel threatened by our presence.

"Sergeant," Shepherd addressed the guard who showed us to the bay.

"I've been briefed go through," He replied simply as one of his men opened the gate and allowed us into the base.

We followed Shepherd who led us to a billet where a Major from the marines and a Rear Admiral from the Royal Navy, the two Officers saluted Shepherd as we approached and he gave them a half assed one back, which pissed off the Admiral.

"Sir, we're here to take your detail to the staging area where we will pass you onto the marines who will pass you on at sea," The Admiral stated as he turned abruptly and led us towards the water's edge. I just looked around the base it had been so long since I had been by the sea although this was just the edge of a loch but it's still salt water so close enough. I watched sailors pulling ropes around doing PT all the time being laughed at by the commandos, I loved doing that.

"Sir," A man stepped forward from the water and saluted again Shepherd gave a half assed one back, "I'm Petty Officer Wilks, I'll be taking you to your rendezvous," He nodded as he turned to his men who were manning and arming a Zodiac RHB.

"Come on Anchor," Price said as he climbed into the boat but I was too absolved in the surroundings to notice that I was being waited for, "Anchor! Get in the rib!" Price ordered as he pulled me into the craft.

"Huh?" I wondered as I hit the hard floor of the boat.

"Get your arse in gear numb nuts," Price demanded as he pulled me up onto one of the pontoons of the RHB as we set off out of the harbour.

"Where we headed?" I asked Shepherd.

"To the rendezvous point," Soap said calmly as he stared off into the distance bouncing as the craft hit each wave.

"What's up Soap, you still not got your sea legs?" I asked him.

"You don't know the half of it," Soap replied as he continued to fixate on what I assumed was the horizon.

"Get your shit together!" Price said calmly as he stood up in the bumping craft and looked over to the horizon at the mouth of the loch.

"Eyes on rendezvous point alpha," the seaman on the GPMG said as he tracked a small craft in the direction Price as facing.

"Suit up Gentlemen," Shepherd said as he readied himself for the incoming craft. We approached the craft with trepidation but they quickly had us in their glare they used a smoke grenade to signal to us, "That's them," Shepherd said as we approached the craft.

"Desert Fox?" The man in the other craft challenged as Shepherd stood at the fore end of the RHB.

"Frogman," Shepherd countered as he stepped onto the other craft whilst the challenger held the two crafts together, Price followed, then me and final Soap jumped across, nearly falling into the drink as he did.

"Thank you gentlemen," Shepherd said to the seamen in the craft that had gotten us to this point, and gave them another half assed salute as the new craft set off.

"USS Oregon, USS Oregon, this is mike one Juliet, rendezvous complete, RTB," The man who had let us onto the boat spoke clearly into his radio as we blasted out into the Firth of Clyde.

"USS Oregon copies all ready for RV Bravo three clicks sierra sierra echo off Isle of Arran," A mysterious voice replied from his radio.

We all sat in silence for about an hour, I had time to look over the variety of the weapons that the crew were armed with, it varied from the US M4 to the French FAMAS with one soldier using a PSG-1 sniper rifle.

"Syrup kill the engine," The man who pulled us onto the boat said as he scanned the horizon with a set of binoculars but he couldn't spot anything, "USS Oregon, USS Oregon, we are in position over," He spoke clearly into the radio as he stood on the precipice of the craft.

"One mike," The voice said again. About thirty seconds later a huge black craft exited to water about two hundred metres for'rd of the zodiac that we were in. It's nose crashed back into the water sending a shockwave back towards us almost toppling our small vessel.

"Fuck me," The pilot of the zodiac shouted as he tried to steer the craft back to fight the tipping.

"USS Oregon, USS Oregon, mike one Juliet, prepare for dust off in two mikes, out," The man who obviously led the craft said as he waved to the pilot to turn the craft back over. We started to rip through the waves towards the huge submarine which had not entirely settled yet still a couple of men were making their way onto the massive deck which we were heading straight for. As we drew in the top of one of the silos opened and the pilot aimed us straight for it.

"Mike one Juliet we are ready for your exfail," The voice sounded from the radio but it was barely audible over the sounds of the crashing waves and the roaring engine.

It took a further thirty seconds before I felt the zodiac crash up onto the makeshift pontoons the sub had in place to guide us into the silo. "USS Oregon we are all aboard."

"Roger that," The voice echoed in the wide empty space as the silo door started to shut again and the pontoons were deflated. We were plunged into complete darkness with only the occasional flash from one of the guys on the crafts helmet torches.

"Mike one Juliet?" A sailor questioned as he switched on a flashlight finally illuminating the dark hole we were in.

"Roger that," The squad leader said as he climbed out of the RHB and onto level ground. We all followed as someone opened a hatch which led us out onto the deck of the submarine.

Shepherd stepped forward and turned to me, "Anchor welcome to your new home, this is the USS Oregon, forward staging ship for the newly instated task force one four one, under my personal command," He said proudly as he made his way up onto the superstructure of the submarine.

"It's a big tin can, full of hot sweaty men I'll give you that," I replied as I started the assent up the superstructure.

"Yeah in the marines their used to getting dirty with one and other in a trench," Price joked back at me as he pulled me up the ladder.

"Yeah but we all got a wet dream of having a wank outside the palace, lucky you could in the Coldstreamers," I said back to him as a very shaken Soap made his way up the structure and was first down the ladder into the belly of the beast.

"Cheeky bastard," Price said as he allowed me down the ladder before him, "Thought you'd get the best view on your descent."

"Mike one Juliet, all squared away," The sailor said over the intercom as the hatch up top was closed, leaving us with a dim red light.

"Roger that, attention all hands, attention all hands, dive, dive, dive." The voice said over the radio, I could feel my ear drums pop as the ship dove deeper into the Irish Sea.

"I hate boats," Soap said simply as we continued to shuffle through the narrow corridors of the ship.

**I hope you enjoyed this latest chapter of the story and I shall try and update soon…..ish. Please leave a review I really do like the feedback even though my responses have a habit of sounding prickish I do not mean it that way, I really am happy with every snippet I get given. But anyway I've gone on enough so until the next time…PEACE!**


	15. Chapter 15 Magic Mike One Juliet

Magic Mike One Juliet

**New chapter incoming! I hope you enjoy it I've been getting this story rolling a lot lately hopefully it's starting to take shape please tell me what your thoughts are on the story up to this point **** but anyway onto the good stuffs! As always I don't own COD but I do own Anchor!**

"General Shepherd," A sailor approached us heading down the narrow gangway of the submarine.

"What now?" Shepherd demanded to the unsuspecting seaman.

"Er…" He stuttered, which was a bad move.

"Straighten up when you address a superior officer, now what the fuck do you want?" Shepherd shouted at the man which even managed to obscure the sounds of the engine room just below us.

"Admiral Brians wants you to report to the bridge? Sir," He then reported making sure to stand in the proper posture.

"Ah fuck it," Shepherd said more calmly as he shoved past the seaman who was slammed into the bulkhead.

The leader of the team sniggered to himself as Shepherd walked off and then helped the seaman to his feet, "That will piss him off, he hates that there are some people with more power than him," He then said to Price as we continued through the ship.

"Price brief the new guy on his new role," Shepherd spoke through the leader's radio.

"Right looks like I'm now in charge," Price said proudly as he took the lead through the ship I was walking behind the extraction team's sniper, his PSG-1 was almost touching the top bulkhead he had very little room to manoeuvre in his body armour which looked quite comical as the sub pitched he kept loosing balance and almost falling over. "You ready Anchor?" Price asked as he placed his hands on a door.

I nodded to him to which he knocked on the heavy steel door, "Tango," A voice echoed from behind the door.

Price looked at me and then spoke clearly into an intercom, "Fanta." The door slowly opened with the hum of an electric motor, I could see what looked like the entrance to the gas chamber that they used in commando school, the members of the team started taking off their gear as we were plunged into darkness and with only a rotating orange light which only illuminated the room for a split second at any one time.

After about a minute in the darkness the door at the opposite end of the room opened up and flooded the room with light, all the equipment that guys had previously had on was now neatly arranged on a set of benches which ran the length of the room. However their weapons were still slung over their shoulders with their sidearm in their holsters.

We followed the soldiers through the door and Price turned to me as I looked around the room, there was a set of gym equipment, a couple of rows of tables and a room which was covered over by a curtain, which I assumed if it was like a British sub then that was the bunks.

"Ay, I don't feel too great, I'm gonna lay down before I am forced too," Soap said as he wandered lazily off towards the curtained of room.

Price just nodded at him before looking back at me, "So, welcome to the Oregon, its homely sort of, well more you than me I think."

"Yeah the blue clashes with your greeney ass," The leader of the previous group said to price with a grin across his face.

"Yeah I guess I don't fit in with having another man's cock up my arse," Price shot back at the man as he sat down at one of the tables.

"So what am I doing here?" I butted into their little love fest.

"Right yeah, so Anchor this is One, he's going to be your new squad leader," Price explained as we sat down at the table with the man.

"Sup," I said nodding to the man as Price continued.

"You'll be in call sign Mike One Juliet, I'd take the time to get to know them before we land in Liberia, there you'll get briefed on your next mission," He paused to make sure it sank in, "I think you know your way around a sub, pretty simple, gym," He pointed in the direction of the equipment, "Heads, showers and bunks over there, galley is with the rest of the ship but we'll all be getting ready for that at zero six hundred, got it?" He asked as he stood up.

"Yeah I think so," I replied to which he nodded and wandered off back through the ship.

"So you're the formidable man of the hour?" One said to me over the table as one of the other members of the team brought over a couple of mugs of coffee and sat down next to us.

"Am I really that famous, w I don't give myself enough credit," I said back sarcastically.

"Well I think it's safe to say you'll fit in here boyo," The other man said jokingly in a Welsh accent.

"Anchor, this is Porthos, ex-French fry Legion," One said laughing in the Welshman's face.

"Oi yank, French Fries come from Belgium, just you dopey fuckers can't tell one from the next," he replied sharply.

"One, I don't care, and two, I'm a Bostonian and if you call me a fucking Yankee again I'll shove you in a torp tube," One shot back as he stole the cup off the Welshman, "Explain how you fit into our little underwater family."

"Well I was in the legion for about ten years, 2nd rep obviously, and I'm here to make sure that everyone does their job, you could say me and Fammy are here to keep the order in this testosterone fuelled fuck up we've got here."

"You named your gun?" I asked him.

"Yes I did, have you got a problem with that Saeson?"

"Not at all, mate," I said back trying to do a welsh accent and failing miserably.

"Anyway," One stepped back into the conversation, "Your role in the squad, will be the 2IC and squad medic we need you on point if we hit the shit," He said to me, "Our squad hasn't had a proper combat mission yet, coming to collect you was the closest to a mission we've had so far, you'll probably meet them at breakfast, that is if they're awake, it's pretty lax around here, Shepherd expects us to self-motivate so we're not going to get ridden on."

"That's good, so what's your story then?" I asked.

"Why does that matter?" He replied.

"You know mine I just thought I should know yours, considering I'm your new go to guy, plus I'll be pulling bullets out of your ass."

"Alright, I'm Navy SEAL, I served in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia, I was a Master Chief Petty Officer but then went officer after my buddy stepped on an IED in Stan," He started as he looked down at the mug of coffee, "It left me with a nice scar running my left arm, nothing like your leg though," He said to me.

"I got lucky really, I now have a fam…" One cut me off before I could finish.

"I don't wanna fucking hear it, you'll fucking Jinx it if you say it," He told me abruptly, "Come on time to meet the team."

"Good I need some scoff!"

We walked back through the weird corridor that we had come through to get to the room, the ship was now a hive of activity saliors were back and forth through the gangways, One still had his M4 draped over his shoulder which was clanging up against the bulkheads. One sailor recognised him as they flurried around the ship.

"Officer, on deck!" He shouted as he stood to attention.

"At ease!" One shouted back over the hustle and bustle of the gangway.

"Yes, Lieutenant Commander," The sailors all replied in unison.

"So you're one step up from Price?" I asked him as we shuffled past the sailors who were busy doing whatever seamen do at six am.

"Yeah in rank maybe but here, I don't know about the SAS but in the SEALs rank doesn't mean much. Price has time on everyone including me, heck you have time over me, I've only been in the military for fifteen years," he shrugged, as we waited for the chaos to die down.

"Fair point," I nodded at him as we shimmied along the gangway.

"SO I know some of your story so what's the rest?" One asked as the gangway finally cleared and we could make our way towards the galley.

"Well I was a Royal Marine for years, then split off to the SAS, got blown up lost a leg and now I'm here, pretty much up to date," I whizzed past him.

"Clearly you don't fuck around," he laughed back as I looked around the corner into the galley, there were several sailors inside along with a couple of familiar faced soldiers. We wandered inside the room and the soldiers at the table all looked up at us. "Squad this is Anchor, he's the new medic, I'm sure Porthos has blabbed to you all."

"Ja, he's been real talkative about the new pirate," A very German sounding voice said looking up from his plate with a mouthful of food.

"This is now sounding like a bad joke, an Englishman, a Welshman and a German," A pale man said as he sipped a cup of coffee.

"Why do feel a holocaust joke it coming?" The German said to the pale man as he swallowed his mouthful.

"Because it was but now you've said it I don't think I will," The man laughed.

"Oberfähnrich Feldman, call sign Jaeger, former kommando spezialkräfte," The German told me as he scooped up another mouthful.

"Chorąży Poitr Polko, Polish GROM, call sign Grommit," The pale man said as he got up to get another cup of coffee his minimi bouncing off the table as he stood up, "You want?"

"No mate I'm fine, I'll get something when I get scoff."

"And you know Porthos," One said as he led me over to where Price and Soap were getting their food, they had two other men with them one had a set of shades on with some sort of beanie on and the other was shorter and looked a lot younger than the others.

"Soap, back from the dead are you?" I asked as I grabbed one of the blue trays off the pile.

"Fucking barely mate," Soap said as he accepted a plate of lasagne from the cook behind the counter.

"Anchor, I don't think you've met Ghost, he was in the regiment," Price said to me as he too took a plate off the chef.

"No I haven't when was he in the regiment?" I asked.

"About three months before you, you were his replacement," Price pointed out as he walked over to the table with Soap and Ghost.

That left the small man with me and One, but he quickly scuttled off without saying a word. After we had been given out lasagne we walked back to the table where everyone was joking around and having a good time.

A man walked past me as we were on our way over to the table, "Hey Syrup, you doing okay?" One asked as he placed his rifle on the table and started to tuck into his food.

"Huh? Yeah I'm fine, just been thinking a lot," The man replied as he grabbed his food and walked over to us.

"Don't hurt yourself," Grommit butted in as he finished his food.

"Fuck you," Syrup said calmly as he sat down next to Ghost, "So you the new guy?" He asked me.

"Yeah that's me, who are you?" I asked him bluntly.

"You know what I'll tell you, just because I'm nice, I'm staff sergeant Joe Deuvea, Can SOR, I was picked for this nice cushy job because I like the pay check." He replied.

"Yeah that and he's the best fucking bleep in NATO," Ghost said to him as Syrup placed his C7 down next to him and put his Dan Wesson 715 with an 8 inch barrel on the table, in its holster.

"I'm starting to feel left out, everyone else has a gun," I said to Price.

"Then take this?" Soap said as he slid a holster across the table.

"What's this?" I asked as I took the holster and pulled the pistol out of it, "My 5-7?"

"Yeah we thought you might want it back again," Price said gulping down a sizable amount of his coffee.

I pulled the magazine out of the pistol and looked at the rounds inside the magazine, "I see you preloaded the rounds, do we have a range?"

"Yeah you can see it later but for now after this you might wanna get some kip mate you're looking shattered," Soap told me as I looked down at my plate which was very blurry.

"Yeah you're probably right," I laughed as quickly finished my plate as everyone was now waiting for me to be done. I stood up scooping up my pistol in the process and we all left the room to go back to the area where we had been staying in until food.

I went into the area behind the curtain to which I was greeted by about thirty bunks which confused me as I believed I had met everyone and that was only about ten guys, I guess there were plans for an expansion at some point.

I had no idea what time it was when I was rudely awoken by the feeling of belts being tied around my wrists, "Who are you?" A voice covered in a black balaclava shouted in my face as I tried to struggle out of what was holding my wrists.

"Warrant Officer Jacks!" I replied as I felt the person compressing onto my chest.

"Your true name!" The shouted back, the room was almost pitch black I could only see the whites of the man's eyes.

"What the fuck do mean?" I shouted back as I felt the compression on my chest get stronger.

"Show some respect!" A voice demanded as I received a swift dig in the side of my ribs.

"WHAT IS YOUR NAME!" A chorus of voices shouted at me from all around.

"Arthur? Jacks? Anchor?" I shouted in confusion.

"What did you just say?"

"Anchor!" I replied now gasping for breath as I could not open my lungs.

I felt the pressure release and I could finally breathe again, "Welcome Brother," one's voice whispered into my ear as the room was flooded with light and the balaclavas were lifted.

"What the fuck was that for?" I shouted into the room.

"A rite of passage into the 141," Grommit laughed as he undid my right hand to which he was delivered a swift punch and I ripped off the left hand shackle, "I guess I had that coming."

"Yeah you fucking did," I told him as I looked around seeing that it was just mike one Juliet in the room, "More like just M1J."

"Well yeah, everyone else can go fuck themselves, you're one of us, and don't fucking forget it!" One said as he helped me off the bed.

**And another one bites the dust, I should hopefully be able to get another chapter out soon although I do have quite a lot on in the next few weeks, uni work and all, but anyways please feel free to leave a review I always appreciate the feedback **** and until the next time…PEACE!**


	16. Chapter 16 Eritrean Thunder

Eritrean Thunder

**I hope you've been enjoying the story so far, I have taken on board the feedback that I've been given and have tried to express my character's feelings a bit more hopefully it's been done okay, also I have had to raise the rating of the story to M due to my let's call it colourful language but it won't change the content that is in it. So anyways onto the chapter I hope you enjoy and as always I don't own COD but I do own Anchor!**

We were steaming towards the Liberian coast, we were about a day off landing and I wasn't any closer to feeling at home with mike one Juliet. Porthos still gave me the cold shoulder, I felt like my arrival had put his nose out of joint but he could go fuck himself for all I cared at that moment as I was getting to respect the leadership that One provided over his team.

I was spending some time in the gym area just waiting for something to happen, it came to the midday eight bells and the ship came to life outside the room but I couldn't see much only that one was coming back in from the fray holding onto a couple of cans.

"Yo," He shouted over to me as he chucked a small black can over to me, "We picked these up in Scotland, piss shit wrong side of the Atlantic fubar Pepsi."

"You mean doesn't taste like sweaty gargled testicles dipped in cordite coated with bullshit," I told him as I cracked open the seal on the can.

"Hey, I'm proud to support the sweat gargled cordite bullshit," One said sarcastically as he passed Porthos a can and we all sat around the table nice and politely.

"So there's gotta be a reason that we got this shit," Porthos said in his heavily accented voice, I got what he meant there's no such thing as luxury in the marines my CO once told me in Afghanistan.

I nodded to One as I took a sip from the can, "Well we're going on a vacation," One said to us both as Grommit came over and plonked himself down on the seat next to One.

"Wakacje? Count me in? Gdzie idziemy?" He said blurring between Polish and English.

"English Podolski, English," Porthos said calmly for once, "But, yeah like he said where are we going?"

"Eritrea," One said looking at the can he held in his hand.

"Where the fuck is Eritrea?" Porthos burst out with as he finished his can and threw it at Grommit's head.

"Oh it's a lovely place on the coast of the Red Sea," One told him.

"So we get a seaside view and about one point six metric fuck tonnes of sand off the shit side of Somalia," I said to him getting the first snigger out of Porthos I had ever received, "Oh but that's about one point one imperial tonnes if your disability makes it so you can't handle the metric system," I continued to poke at One.

"I know how the metric system works," One said back to me as he pulled out a map, "So we've got a lead on someone who's not been playing too nicely since we found out the intel on Makarov."

"Who the fuck is Makarov?" I asked One who just looked at the others but they didn't give him a response, "They really didn't tell you fuck all did they?"

"Only that I was needed, care to fill me in?" I told him as I looked around the table.

Suddenly I felt a hand clatter down on my shoulder, "Makarov, is a stupid cunt who has somehow become one of the most influential men in Russian politics, only no one knows who the fuck the asshole is," The deep Scottish voice echoed from behind me.

"That would be the guy," One said to me as Soap pushed past me to sit down, "Captain MacTavish, you got any more news on the HVT?"

"Only that he's now in the top spot of the PHN," Soap continued.

"Captain MacTavish? That's the first time I've ever fucking heard someone call you that," I laughed completely taking the conversation off topic.

"Well that is my name," Soap told me I guess the nick name had got tiring.

"Aye, if you say so," I nodded looking back at Soap whilst One continued.

"Anyway, so this guy is one of Makarov's links in east Africa, he's shepherding weapons between the Arabian peninsula and the horn of Africa and there's some good int that he's currently in a hideout in Assab." One paused as we took in the news.

"So where are we staging?" I asked him, just looking at the map which had several buildings in the small town marked in red with a blue boundary around the buildings.

"USS Zumwalt, it's a destroyer one of the only available in gulf for our nice little party," One answered but the name stuck in my head.

"Wasn't the Zumwalt protecting the invasion of Oman?" Grommit said as he looked closely at the map.

"Yeah she's been on a constant rotate since the invasion, currently there are two teams of SEALs on board and we're going to go in with them, that blue line is their cordon inside that we have a free fire zone, Eritrea is a rogue state they have no say on our mission, they won't even know we were there," One told us as Syrup and Jaeger came over to join the party.

"Your team coming?" I asked Soap.

"No mate, we've got to wait on standby to collect the intel that you gather," He told me, I couldn't help feeling that it would be strange going on a mission without him by my side.

"That makes sense," I told him as I looked back at One, "So when's step off?"

One pulled down his glove a bit so he could see his watch, "About thirty minutes so boys, get your shit together!" He ordered to which we became a hive of activity.

"What do I do about my fats?" I asked One as he went to go into the connecting room to put on his gear.

"There should be some spare MTP in the bunks, then come out here and we'll get you kitted out," He said as he turned to go into the room, "Oh and Anchor don't lose the other leg on this one."

"Can't say that was on top of my list," I told him as I went to the bunks to get a set of fats, as I didn't think jeans and a t-shirt would cut it. I jogged into the bunk room and pulled out a small box that was under one of the bunks, it just had MTP written on the box in sharpie but it was enough for me to know what it was. I rummaged around in the box finding a UBACS that fit along with a set of trousers, the belt I had on was the one from the fatigues I was given by the marines so it would do for all my needs. I put on the new clothes and placed my jeans and t-shirt under my blanket on the bed. I just had enough time to attach my drop leg to my belt before Syrup burst into the room.

"You got your shit together?" He asked me as I finally clipped the holster in place.

"Just about," I replied as he attached the Velcro at the sides of his body armour.

"Good, follow me and we'll get your kit in line," He told me as he checked his magazine pouches and checked that his radio equipment was all in order. We kept wandering towards the connecting room Syrup still fixated on his radio but we did reach the door to the room. Syrup pulled open the door and let me in, inside was Grommit, Porthos and Jaeger who were checking their rifles in full kit, "Take whatever you want from here," Syrup told me as h pulled down a handle on the wall exposing an array of body armour, holsters and a set of pouches for various items.

"Nice," I said quietly looking over all of the items on the wall, I felt like a kid in a candy shop. I pulled a brand new Osprey Mk 4 body armour off the wall, I had forgotten how heavy the plate carrier was it felt like I was Atlas with the weight of the world baring down on my shoulders. "Jesus I forgot about this," I chuckled as I weaved the pouches onto the carrier and checked to make sure that everything was just how I remembered that I had done it in the past.

"Heavier than you remember?" Jaeger asked as he placed a HK MP7 in a dump pouch at the rear of his carrier. I just nodded and made my way over to the section of the wall which was covered in weapons ranging from minimis to AR-15s and even the javelin, one weapon did stick out however in particular, I pulled it off the wall it's rubberised grip felt as fresh as the day I had first picked it up, the cheek rest was brand new and felt uncomfortable cutting into my face as I peered through the sights, it had some form of AimPoint stuck on top which I didn't really have much choice about but at least it worked. I took out the place holder magazine and racked open the bolt it was pristine and smooth, well lubricated it felt like I had just been reunited with my best friend. I checked the side which had just the one rail running the small length of the side; it had a PEQ-16 attached to it providing my with an IR laser and flashlight if I needed it which I expected I would do.

"You quite finished bogging?" Porthos asked me as he scooped up his FAMAS and placed his hand over his 226 in its holster.

"Yeah, let's get ready to do this," I told him as I did a final weapon check and made sure everything was in place.

I picked up a simple FAST helmet and placed it over my head but did not clip together the straps, so it was loose over my head and moved as I walked through the ship, we arrived at the same port which had everyone going up it.

One opened up the hatch and we preceded out onto the deck of the sub, where a small MH-6 was on standby spooled up on the deck waiting for us, "Mike One Juliet?" The pilot challenged as we all clipped on and sat on the runs at the sides of the little bird.

"Roger that, you our ride to the USS Ford?" One asked the pilot as the helo started to lift off the deck.

"Affirmative, the Ford is only about ten nauticals from here, so should be a short hop," The pilot told us as we made our way out over the vast blue ocean. It only took about five minutes before the blue horizon was obscured by a series of black dots, as we drew in the sheer size of the vessels came into view, the USS Gerald R. Ford was a force of nature let alone a shiop in the water and its accompanying cruisers were sizable too, the USS Vella Gulf encompassed about two of the Royal Navy's equivalent ships.

"She's one big bitch ain't she?" One said to me noticing my mouth was wide open.

"Yeah you might say that," I replied barely audible over the rotors of the helicopter.

"Well you won't have much time to admire her, we are straight off this and then onto a four hour flight across Africa towards the Zumwalt in the gulf of Aden." One pointed out to me as we moved in to touch down on the deck of the huge aircraft carrier.

We climbed off the runs as soon as the helo touched down, where a sailor on the flight deck was ready to shepherd us towards our lift next to the staging area on the USS Zumwalt. We were taken around the back of the superstructure where a huge V-22 was waiting to lift off, its rotors spinning at 450rpm, its ramp lowered so all we had to do was run on board and sit down.

We all followed One and took seats on alternative sides of the airframe, I was sat between Jaeger and Porthos with Syrup, One and Grommit facing us. "I hate these things," Porthos shouted over the roar of the dual Rolls-Royce Allisons booming into life, taking us off the flight deck and into the heavens, "I always feel like they're going to fall out of the sky."

"That's because you're Welsh, too used to being in a mine!" I shouted back just as I felt the engines tilt so we would transfer from VTOL to horizontal flight.

"Haha, you funny fucker," Was what I was graced with in response with another smile, I was on a roll today.

"You know it, Sheepy," I said as the sound of the engines slowly died off as they became less strained by the horizontal flight.

"Mike One Juliet, this is your Captain speaking, we hope you have a pleasant flight, our on board entertainment includes masturbation and being shaken like a soda can, in flight beverages will not be provided so feel free to drink your own urine, and as always thank you for flying air-go-fuck-yourself." A voice echoed over the intercom through the cockpit.

"Ay, I would if I wasn't surrounded by these ugly fuckers!" I shouted hoping the pilot could hear me from his cabin. I looked around and everyone was just doing their own thing although Syrup was just staring out of a window inbetween myself and Jaeger, there wasn't much to see the sun was setting on his side of the V-22, so I wondered what he was thinking about. "You alright mate?" I waved at him snapping him out of his trace that he had himself worked into.

"Huh?" He looked confused so I made the OK hand signal across the aircraft, "Oh yeah I'm fine, just like to focus a bit before we get into contact."

"You think we'll be going hot?"

"If it's like the last mission we rode in on, then fuck yeah," He said a she placed his head up against the vibrating seat.

"Whoopdee-fucking-doo," I replied placing my head on the back of my seat and staring at the ceiling of the aircraft, it was just a network of carefully interlinked wires, it slightly troubled me that if they were severed that we would just drop out of the sky like a stone. I tried to get my eyes shut and just wait out the next four hours until we reached the Zumwalt but I just couldn't.

**And another one bites the dust, so I hope that you've been enjoying the story and just enjoyed that chapter I really do enjoy writing this story and I hope it shows in the writing itself. I really do appreciate the feedback I receive in messages and review but anyway until the next time…PEACE!**


	17. Chapter 17 Boots in the Sand

Boots on the Sand

** I hope you've been enjoying the story so far finally some combat though, it's only taken what about a year to get to this point lol but anyway on with it I hope you enjoy **** and as always I don't own COD but I do own Anchor.**

The airframe creaked as the vehicle transitioned back into the VTOL format, the engines revved up as we started our descent onto the USS Zumwalt. We felt it jerk as we must have been hovering mere feet above the flight deck, I looked out of the window seeing the Zumwalt's escort on the horizon back lit by the sun set.

The ramp on the back of Osprey dropped and we all stood up but before we could walk towards the edge an officer stood on the tailgate of the ramp.

"Officer on deck!" One shouted over the sound of the powering down engines.

Everyone straightened up, I didn't know how the officer would react if we didn't, "At easy, gentlemen," The officer said as he led us off the craft, "I am Captain Rodriquez US Navy SEALs, I'll be in command of your back up on the mission," He said as he opened the door leading into the superstructure, "You know the drill right?" He asked us as we filed into the structure.

"Yeah we've been briefed," One told the Captain.

"Good," He replied as we walked down into the belly of the ship, "Have you been briefed on what happens if things go south?"

"No we hadn't planned on that," One told him as we walked past sailors just going about their business, we arrived in a mess which had at least twenty SEALs inside all with their weapons and kit ready to go.

"Alright boys, you know the drill, you'll be pulling security for these boys to eliminate a HVT," He paused as he looked around the room, "However if things go south, we have a good asset just on the horizon, as of six eighteen, USS Peleliu is now within strike range of Eritrea, they have the asset of a whole company of Marines, ready to go on our whistle and they will come in hard."

"That's what she said," One of the SEALs said sarcastically.

"About a Marine?" The Captain questioned, "Said no woman ever, more like," He grinned from ear to ear knowing his men were the best and more than capable of completing this mission. "You think it's gone too far south and say the word, and we'll bring seven bells of shit down on those fuck faces."

"Roger," One said simply as he looked around the room at the SEALs some of them he obviously knew.

"Gentlemen, get this shit done, now!" The captain bellowed through the room.

Within minutes we were back outside and on the V-22, it was in the air as soon as we had all managed to get sat down and buckled in. The Captain stood on the rear of the ramp and was speaking to the Commander in charge of the SEALs, he just nodded as he stepped off and we started our assent.

"Boys, let's get to it," The Commander said as he sat down next to me with One on my left, "Yo, Mich," He then shouted over to One who was just the other side of me.

One turned and looked at the Commander, "They actually promoted you, Jesus they must be fucking desperate!" He shouted over the engines as they roared pulling us up higher off the deck of the Zumwalt.

"Yeah I made Commander, thank you very much," He grinned back over to One as the engine groan died down.

"As I said desperate!" One shouted as the airframe hummed with us now in horizontal flight.

The radio hissed into life, "Mike One Juliet, Mike One Juliet, this is Strike Fox command," The crackled voice of the Captain came through the radio, only our team received the traffic but the next part was on the broad channel which everyone in the aircraft received, "Strike Fox actual, this is Strike Fox command, we'll be waling you into the AO, we have you on predator cam."

"Roger that Strike Fox command, Strike Fox actual out," The commander told command over the airways.

"Ten minutes to insert," the pilot declared over the intercom to us in the cargo bay.

"Ten minutes!" The commander shouted as we all sat on the airframe which was suddenly plunged into darkness.

"Entering Eritrean airspace," The pilot informed us.

"I would kind of want to see if we were going to be shot down," Grommit said sarcastically I could only see the faint glow from his trijicon.

"Yeah but that would mean that we would have to see your fuck ugly face," Porthos shouted back over to him as we shook slightly from the winds tearing off the desert.

"Pipe down," One ordered as the tension inside the craft increased as we readied for insert.

"One mike to boots down," The pilot declared as we re-entered VTOL and descended down onto the desert floor.

The ramp slowly opened and the hot air, which had been baked by the sun all day, rushed into the cool airframe, it hit me like a freight train filling my nose and mouth with dust and sand. We all rushed out of the V-22 into the cooling air, the desert was dropping in temperature very quickly and due to the clear skies there was too much light for NODs so we were going with the MK1.

"Everyone out," One ordered as our squad left the airframe and started to take up a perimeter next to the SEALs who were laid down in the desert. The VTOL covered us all in a thick layer of sand and dust but we also knew that the sound of the engines would carry for miles, so with us only being two miles from the AO, our target would have most definitely heard it.

Through the night I could make out the rough shapes of the SEALs who were now humping it through the desert towards our objective.

"Strike Fox actual, this is command, we've got visual conformation of boots on the ground, how copy over?" The radio buzzed into my ear.

"Command, Strike Fox actual, we have boots in the sand, I say again, boots in the sand."

"Command copies all, proceed north to way point bourbon," The replied to the Commander who was in the mid ranks of the SEALs.

"Roger, proceeding north to way point bourbon."

"Solid copy Strike Fox actual, Command out."

"Right boys we've got a half click hump to way point bourbon, then onto way point rum one click from the AO, then we'll be set up at the vodka ring around the AO ceiling the village off whilst these boys take down Ivan," The commander told his men over the radio on the wide comms channel, we could hear all traffic but the SEALs couldn't hear our traffic unless we went onto the broad band comms which Syrup had.

We continued to proceed into the desert for about thirty minutes when we reached way point bourbon, it took us a further thirty to get across the terrain which had some steep hills but we did eventually arrive at way point rum.

"Command, Strike Fox actual, passing way point rum, over?" The commander said quietly over the radio, we had heard several vehicles roaming the desert, we had no clue if they were Ivan or just a farmer trying to see what the fucking noise was but we avoided contact just to be sure.

"Roger that Strike Fox actual, we have you on predator, proceed to village and the vodka ring, out."

The vodka ring was a sentry line to be set up within two hundred meters of the village, the SEALs would man this position whilst our team cleared the town and took down Ivan. It took about an hour of scaling rocky outcrops and coastal cliffs to reach the village; it was surrounded on two sides by the sea so the marines would have plenty of room to help if they were needed.

"Strike Fox, get into your teams," the commander ordered to his men who then hastily organised themselves into four five man teams, "Command, Strike Fox actual, we have our four elements ready for cordon on village, moving to Ops now." He spoke clearly into his radio.

"Roger that Strike Fox actual, Mike One Juliet are to accompany your team, designation Strike one zero, to the OP and insert from there, over?"

"Solid copy, Strike one zero out." He turned to look at One who was now in amongst his team blended in so he didn't stick out like a sore thumb, "You heard command, tag us until we reach OP Russian standard and then you will break off inot the town to flush out Ivan, we'll prevent any escape."

"Rog," One said simply as we followed the small five man squad out towards the OP, which laid on the nearly kilometre long ring around the village.

Once we arrived one of the SEALs pulled open his small day sack and pulled out a magwell and new barrel, "Get up on that rock with the Beowulf," The commander ordered to the SEAL and sent a sniper with him, "You boys ready?"

"Ja, let's get to it," Jaeger told him before One could get his things ready.

"All Strike Fox elements," One began to say clearly over the radio, "This is Mike One Juliet, we are starting our assault on the village, I repeat, we are beginning our assault, do not fire unless you feel it's absolutely necessary for the survival of the mission," One stressed as we as brass checked our weapons and moved down a dirt track towards the village.

The highest point in the village, what looked like a mosque with its minaret towering above the rest of the buildings, everything was back lit by the moon light reflecting off the sea which stretched mere metres from the village. The track had small bushes at either side so we moved cover to avoid any chances of an enemy sniper spotting us from the village.

I saw Jaeger take aim with his PSG-1 sniper rifle which a thermal scope poised on the top picatinny rail, he dialled in the range and peered through the sights.

"Eyes on two targets, roof top, drei zero zero metres," Jaeger told us calmly as he continued to get on scope with the rifle.

"I see them," Grommit said as he got on scope with his trijicon.

"Do not engage," One ordered as the two men lined up their shots, "Can you see any NODs?"

"Nah they're clean," Grommit declared as I pushed past him up to a small rock, I was sat on my arse with my back pushed up against the rock, I felt the pouches on my back push into me as I shuffled around to look around the rock to peer down range.

"Good, Syrup, Porthos push past Anchor and get up close on that village," One ordered as two figures pushed past me and moved up on the first building of the village.

"One door, two windows on our side," I looked at the building which Syrup and Porthos were stacked up on.

"Roger, Jaeger eyes on," One demanded as he also pushed past me and stacked up behind Porthos. "Go, go, go," One said quietly over the radio, to which Porthos opened the door and Syrup charged in with his suppressed C7, I could only hear what sounded like twigs snapping but to the trained ear I knew it was shots fired.

"Building clear," One said over the radio as I spotted a figure stood by the door that they had entered the house from, "Strike Fox actual, be advised we have now got a foot hold in the town, so do not engage unless you deem it necessary," One continued on the open channel, he switched back however and then addressed our team's closed channel, "Team move up on this building, we will clear this town enforce."

"Roger, Grommit, Jaeger push up past me, I'll cover," I sent over the radio as I continued to observe the town, I spotted Syrup and Porthos moving up on the next building in the town to try and expand our little breach point that we had created. It was followed by several twig snaps but by that point Grommit and Jaeger were stacked up covering the new house.

"Anchor get over here," Grommit demanded over the radio.

I sprinted up behind him pushing my back up against the wall with my L22 kept low, I then received the nod from Grommit who pulled out his modulated Mk23 pistol as his minimi wasn't supressed. He nodded to me as we pushed forwards moving to a new building which got us one step closer to the target building. We edged our way closer to the floor we could hear voices, "That's not Arabic," I told Grommit.

"Tak, you don't think I know that," He grinned at me as I reached across for the door but he shook his head, "Wait let's find out what they say."

"Rog," I whispered back as we continued to listen in.

"That's definitely Kazakh," Grommit told me as we continued to listen, "They're pretty fucked," He laughed to me, "but they say the boss is getting ready to move on soon."

"Shit, how?" I whispered to him.

"No idea but I'd guess by helicopter but I can't be too sure," He told me as we continued trying to get more information but as we sat there we heard a massive shot it could have only been from the Beowulf.

"What the fuck was that?" I asked over the open comms. However the whole village had already come to life by that point and the men inside the building were scuffling around. "Fuck it, Grom let's get in," I ordered as I ripped open the door and Grommit charged in with his minimi, the 7.62mm shots from AKs and PKPs masked the burst that Grommit put down. I burst into the room firing over Grommit's shoulder I hit the second man in the room in the chest, however his body armour took the shot so I aimed higher shooting through the shoulder strap of the armour but he was finally put down by a second burst from the minimi which tore through the armour like a hot knife through butter.

"Mike One Juliet, this is Strike Fox actual, we are engaging a hostile convoy moving into the AO, Beowulf took out the lead victor now we're mopping up, so for the overt switch," The leader of the SEALs told us as we were now in heavy contact within the village.

"Anchor, Grommit!" One shouted over to us as we took up positions in the windows of the building and started to engage the targets that were in the village square infront of the house.

"Yeah!" I shouted back hoping for a reply.

"Keep engaging here and we'll flank left to provide a double arc," One ordered as I heard their gunshots get further away but their tracers were cross linking ours like little green fireflies.

One by one the hostiles pulled back into the mosque where the target was hiding, but before I could reposition to cross the street into the building, I heard a crack. It was definitely a high velocity round but I was confused as to where it had come from but it knocked me to the floor.

"Man down!" Grommit shouted as he continued to empty the belt of his minimi.

"No, I'm alright I shouted as I looked down at my chest which had a large hole in, the weaved Kevlar had blown open and the ceramic plate inside was clearly visible with a deep indentation where the 7.62x54mmR splinters had embedded themselves.

"Like fuck you are, you're bleeding from your fucking face!" Grommit shouted as I stood up at a new window and continued to fire the warm blood trickling down the right hand side of my face sticking me to the cheek rest of my L22.

After five or so shots I couldn't see through my right eye as the blood sealed it shut, I heard the unmistakable sound of the minimi running dry, "Grommit take this while I sort my eye out!" I shouted over to him throwing my L22 to the huge Pole.

"Get it over with fast then," he shouted at me as he fired the rifle off, I pulled out all of my remaining magazines and placed them at his feet before taking off my rucksack and laid it on the floor infront of me. I pulled out a roll of gauze, a set of iodine wraps and some tape. I mopped up the blood with my sleeve which quickly became saturated with blood so I placed an iodine wrap on my eye brow and my cheek, I then removed my helmet and wrapped the gauze around the whole of my head just leaving enough room for me to see out of my right eye.

"Back up!" I shouted as I placed my helmet over my head not doing up the straps and drawing my FN 5-7 taking repeated shots at the few remaining targets which presented themselves on the mosque. Each shot felt like the wounds on my face were tearing open eventually I felt the blood start to run down the side of my brow again, so I wiped it up and took my rifle from Grommit.

"Jestes dobry?" Grommit asked me as he loaded another belt into the minimi.

"I'm good," I replied as I couldn't feel any more blood flow down my face.

"Grommit, what's the problem?" One asked over the radio.

"Anchor's been hit he's up but I'm not sure how?"

"I'm up, fucked up, but I'm up," I told him as I opened the door to cross over into the mosque.

I could see One, Syrup and Porthos stacking up on the door to breach into the building, "I have eyes on you," Jaeger said calmly over the radio as I heard the crack of his rifle fire above us, "Sniper down," he added.

"Roger, have you got eyes on the tango?" One asked as Grommit and I stacked up opposite them.

"Negative, but there's heavy activity in a room up on the second floor."

"Got it, ready to breach?" One asked me as I was stacked up exactly opposite him. I just nodded so he readied a flashbang as I placed my hand on the door knob, as I twisted it he pulled the pin on the grenade. The door flew open followed by a barrage of gunshots, the rounds cracked as we were pinned away from the room. "Fuck it, flashbang out!" One shouted as he stepped back and threw the grenade into the room causing the gunfire to stop instantaneously.

In the break Porthos and I charged the room letting off an entire magazine each cutting down some of the soldiers who were still dazed by the flashbang blast. As we both took a knee to reload our rifles a second barrage flew over our shoulders from Syrup, One and Grommit. The few remaining hostiles in the central atrium were cleared out and we proceeded to a stairwell leading to the second floor.

"You hear that Grom?" I asked as we stacked up outside the Mullah's office where we could hear Kazakh voices once again.

"Tak, Kazachski," He replied as we stacked up on the door but as we did shots pierced through the walls of the mosque, "Fuck, they know we're here!" Grommit shouted as the splinters of the wooden and mud wall crumbled with each passing round.

"Do not shoot!" One demanded as we were pinned to the floor.

"Flash out!" I shouted as I quickly pulled the pin on a flashbang and let it off just outside the door knocking it off its hinges and into the room, "Room breached," I shouted as I aimed my rifle into the room and fired at one of the targets who was spraying from a PKP into the wall.

"Go get in!" Porthos shouted as we all stood up and charged into the room where a man with an MP-443 holding a man in a black dishdasha hostage, I assumed he must have been the Mullah.

"Drop the gun!" One shouted at the man but he just pulled the Mullah in closer.

"Qazir qaldırıñız!" The man shouted trying to duck down behind the Mullah.

Grommit shouted in Kazakh at the man which caused the Mullah to start struggling, "No!" I shouted as the Mullah attempted to throw the man over his shoulder which exposed the man's left side which was just covered by soft body armour.

I didn't know what happened in that split second but I heard several shots followed by the dropping of two bodies.

One was the hostage taker, the other was the Mullah who had been shot in the shoulder, "Syrup, Porthos secure the HVT, Anchor make sure the Mullah is OK, Grommit and I will pull security." One ordered as we all got to work.

I checked the Mullah over he had been fucked up pretty bad, his shoulder had been pretty much destroyed, he was in a lot of pain, "Boss we can't leave him here, we'll have to treat on the Zumwalt."

"Rog," One replied as he radioed Strike Fox, "All Strike Fox elements move up on the village, we have the village secured, over?" One declared as he then radioed the Zumwalt, "USS Zumwalt, USS Zumwalt, this is Mike One Juliet, we have secured the HVT but we have one civilian down and in need of immediate assistance we can stabilise here but we need to get them aboard the Zumwalt for further treatment, how copy over?"

"Mike One Juliet, this is USS Zumwalt, solid copy on all we have scrambled the Marines for evac, warning we have spotted heavy Eritrean movement close to your location, it is unknown at this time if you are compromised," Command echoed back as the SEALs started appearing all around us in the mosque, I was still trying to stabilise the Mullah but he was loosing blood faster than I could manage.

"Hey, SEALs you got a medic?" I shouted out into the corridor.

"Coming up!" Was the reply I was given as a burley SEAL blasted through the door and knelt down beside me. We struggled to keep the Mullah still enough to actually keep him stable.

"Where the fucking hell are the Marines?" I asked One as I continued to try to keep the Mullah alive.

"I don't know, they should be here by now!" One replied as we continued ot work on the Mullah.

"He's fucking fadin…" I was cut off by the worse thing possible at that time, my heart sank as the words were shouted out.

"Contact!" Grommit shouted at the top of his lungs, as he let rip the minimi for a solid three seconds, by which time we started to receive heavy incoming rounds.

"Grommit what we got?" One shouted as the pieces of mud and wood fell down bouncing off my head.

"Four technicals, several troop carriers and a T-72, so we're pretty fucking outnumbered!" Grommit shouted as he continued to try and melt the barrel of his minimi.

I kept trying to make sure the Mullah was okay, "Stay with me," He was faintly shuddering whispering in Arabic, "Fuck he's going into shock!" I shouted as I placed a drip into his arm but his blood pressure was that low now that it wasn't taking.

"Shit, second round in coming!" One of the SEALs shouted at us as the building shook and started to crumble forwards. I saw the front of the building fall away and I lost balance and started to roll out, the SEAL medic grabbed the Mullah to stop him rolling out too. I grabbed hold of the edge of the floor with my legs hanging off the edge, I tried to claw my way up but there wasn't much to pull up on so when the next tank round collided with the building I just dropped to the floor like a stone.

I hit the ground hard, a dust could was hanging around me as I was sat on the floor but as I tried to look around I felt a lump of debris fall onto my chest but luckily my destroyed ceramic plate helped to deflect the debris and it crushed my rifle which had landed next to me still attached to my sling.

I pulled my pistol out and took aim where I saw the tank suddenly explode in a fire ball, the heat and pressure wave pushed me into the ground. I looked up to see an AH-1Z firing its turret at the now retreating hostile forces, just after this several UH-1Y venom helicopters started to circle the area blasting everything with their miniguns. They did eventually touch down and marines piled off taking up a defensive cordon around the town.

I unclipped my crushed rifle and went to help the SEAL get the Mullah down off the building he was passed down to me where several marine medics helped me place him on a chopper and he was swiftly lifted out of the combat zone.

Soon after our small team piled onto another venom Syrup had the tied up HVT in one hand and placed him in between Grommit and me.

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter and have been enjoying the story so please review and tell me what you thought and think where the story should go next and how I can improve it I really do appreciate the feedback **** but anyway until next time…..PEACE!**


	18. Chapter 18 Liberian Heat

Liberian Heat

** I know it's been a very, very, very, very, very long time since I've updated this one so I'll get right to it. As always I don't own COD but I do own Anchor.**

The rotors of the V-22 kicked up one hell of a dust cloud as it touched down in the hard dry land which had been specially cleared by the Liberian army for the use of NATO training operations in jungle warfare. It was location just five hundred metres through dense jungle from lake Piso where the USS Oregon was based just at snorkel depth so it would not leave a huge signature for someone to locate the base.

The ramp dropped letting the rush of hot humid air into the hold of the V-22, it instantly made me start to sweat out, the helmet made me feel sick so I plonked it down on my lap, the bandages I had wrapped around my head were now saturated with blood and had collected extra sand and dust turning them a nice brown.

"Anchor shouldn't you be chasing a man with a moustache around the sphinx," Jaeger back handedly commented about my headdress and he scooped up the HVT and carried him out of the building by the scruff of his neck.

"Fuck you," I told him as I stood up holding my helmet and what was left of my L22, which was the foregrip back to the mag well everything else had just been destroyed. I slowly walked down the ramp behind Jaeger and Grommit, who was being surprisingly quiet for the journey home. As the two men limped away with the HVT in tow I saw a rather distraught looking Captain Price and Soap, I wandered towards them as I saw Ghost performing weapon drills at a makeshift firing range just on the other side of a new HQ.

"What the fucking hell happened to you?" Soap asked me as I passed him the remaining guts to my rifle.

"I got a fucking 7.62 face lift, I heard it was all the fucking rage," I started as I took my Osprey off and passed it to Soap, however as he lifted it up the plate which had been struck with the rounds fell out onto the floor, "I think the cunt fucked mine up though." I finished as Price just shook his head.

"You muppet," Price said as he looked at the plate rested on the ground, "Come on, lucky for you the Med Corps are based here on R&amp;R from Sierra Leone, unfortunately reamy is also based here."

"REME, those fuck tards, I think I'd rather keep my face like this," I told him as he led me over towards the set of medical tent which were set just a couple of metres into the tree line. I could feel the insects starting to bite and break into their flesh, I tried to swat most of them away but I couldn't get them all and I could feel them winding themselves into the wounds.

"Well they are the only bastards who can keep our equipment running when we get stuck," Price told me as he opened the tent up exposing the medics to daylight.

One of the medics placed his hand up to the light, "Ah I forgot it's the first time these boys have seen daylight since they left their mother's loft," I said calmly as I walked into their lair.

"Oh goodie a new body to cut up," An upper class voice spoke clearly across the room to me, however as it was on my right side I couldn't hear it too well due to the saturated bandages.

"I'd rather not be butchered," I replied looking towards the dulled voice.

"You have nothing to worry about, we've get anaesthesia to make it painless," She told me as I looked at her, she had very short brown hair and looked very innocent, too innocent to be in the Army.

"Fucking great," I told her as I spotted her tab in the middle of her chest, it had the crown and a single Bath star.

"Lieutenant Pact, sort the WOZ out," She smiled at me knowing she towered over me in rank.

"Thanks, ma'am."

"Just don't fuck up again," She told me as the new medic came over to me and started to unwrap my head, they had a blue swab ready to kill any little bastards that had entered the wound.

I winced as the man pulled out the remaining fragments from the wound, he then doused it in an antiseptic spray which firstly stank and secondly it burnt like hell, I could feel the cold liquid seep into the cut as he dabbed it to mop up the excess. He then pulled out a curved needle and thread.

"This might hurt," The Lieutenant told me as I simply gripped my knee hard.

He slid the needle into one side of the cut on my cheek, I gritted my teeth as he threaded it across the wound pulling just below my eye, I could feel the blood seep down my cheek and run into the corner of my mouth it still tasted of the antiseptic, it made me wretch but I tried to keep still whilst the needle was so close to my eye.

"That's one down," He then told me as he sat back whilst I recovered from the battering.

I just nodded at him as I relaxed. I glanced over to the entrance of the tent where Syrup just wandered into the massive canopy, I looked at the man as he nodded at me as he walked through the tent.

"Ah Mary-Ann, I was looking for you," Syrup spoke out into the tent, I couldn't see who he was talking to until they replied.

"Yeah, what's up Sergeant Deuvea?" The head medic said to Syrup.

"Erm…" Syrup stumbled which was my chance to go on the attack.

I looked over my shoulder feeling the pull on my cheek from the stitches, "Aww Syrup you stumbling for words now a woman is speaking to you," I smiled feeling like I was tearing the cotton from my face but it was worth it to watch the man blush.

"Lieutenant don't you have some butchery to do," She told the medic as I turned back to face him as he started to stitch up my forehead.

"Yes, ma'am," He replied as he plunged the needle into my face.

I winced again as he pulled the thread across the wound, "Ha, dickhead," Syrup shouted over to me as he continued to talk to the officer. "Did you want to go and get a coffee from the mess hall?"

"In the NCO mess?" The officer said in disgust.

"Fuck no, SFU mess," He told her with a distinctive excitableness in his voice.

I kept feeling the needle pulled at my forehead but I just closed my eyes and took the pain, "I'd like that," The officer told him as I made an attempt to relax but the constantly feeling like my face was being zipped up made it difficult as each pull made me wince more and more until I finally felt the cotton get tied on the top of my head just into my hair line.

"So what do you think?" The medic asked me as he passed me a small dental mirror to look at my face.

The blue and green cotton really did contrast against the pale whiteness of my skin but the deep running almost black closed wounds contrasted even more. I looked at the image in the mirror but I watched the medic place a patch over the wound and place some tape over the patch to make it stick.

"Well you look like fucking Frankenstein," Porthos entered the tent looking for me, his dark skin glistened with the sweat that was rolling off his face and onto his arms and body, he had his regular combat trousers on but only had a wife beater on top which had been stained already by the dirt and his sweat.

"Oh thanks," I told him as I stood up.

"Don't do anything stupid for a few days just until the stitched bind," He nodded at me to which I barely acknowledged as I walked over to Porthos rolling up the sleeves on my UBACS and in the process of doing so released a torrent of sweat.

"Well you look like something Soap would stick his knob in," Price said over to me as I walked under the tent cover and was almost blinded by the sun which was beating through the treeline.

"Aye, fuck off," Soap shouted back at him as he came over with Ghost.

"What it's true," Ghost sarcastically told him as he held out his hand to me. "I don't think we've been properly introduced, Lieutenant Riley, or Ghost to those who I don't want to know my name, probably because they're a cunt."

"Well then I guess I'm not a cunt," I told him as I shook his hand.

"I wouldn't go that far mate," Price told me as he pulled off his giggle for a split second to wipe away his sweat, "I hate the sun."

"Captain Mactavish," One shouted as he sprinted over to us and continued speaking, "General Shepherd wants to see you," He looked around our little school circle, "We've just got something from the informant."

"Really what?" Porthos asked him as he started walking back over to the HQ building.

"I don't know yet, has anyone seen Syrup?" One asked as he opened the door to the HQ.

"He was flirting with the Lieutenant Colonel, the last time I saw him," I told him as we walked into the very dark HQ.

"Fucking hell cant he just let her go?" He asked me as we walked into the room where Shepherd was stood with his arms crossed like always.

"Welcome gentlemen, where are the rest of the team?" He asked us as Grommit and Jaeger were not here either.

"They're doing something important I'm sure," I told him as I looked across at the whizzwo who was stood in the corner holding onto a clip board.

"Well I really only wanted the CO and 2IC, but seeing as you're all here," He nodded over to the whizzwo, who had his clipboard at the ready.

"Alright boys," he started in his heavy southern states accent, "the intel we got from the Rusky was good, it appears that there are a few of the inner circle's top guys next door in Sierra Leone. Apparently they are using the place as a stopover when transferring weapons and equipment from the far flung corners of the world, they have a variety of things in country but the latest estimates are that they are attempting to set up a permanent base about fifty miles north east of Freetown."

"We got any imagery on the base?" Price asked him whilst I took in the news.

"Not at this time, that's why we are not letting you guys rip before we got a proper eyes on," The whizz replied.

"So we're not going blind that's good," Porthos blurted out, I don't think it was even consciously he just had a way of rubbing people the wrong way.

"Yeah we thought you guys might need some eyes in the sky before you go in, so you will be stood down for that reason and you boys will need some time after that last op to recover," He said looking at me with my nice new patches, "Also they can't get us a constant UAV cover and air support if needed, for a few days so you'll be given some relaxation time for around ten days now so we can verify the images from the predator."

"Roger, so do you know when we will get briefed to go in?" I asked him as he was about to hand back to Shepherd.

"I don't know yet, when it comes to it I'll get you all in here and we'll sit down ready for the operation brief," He replied just as Shepherd started talking.

"Dismissed," Shepherd told us abruptly before turning and leaving us to it as he walked upstairs in the HQ building, we were left in silence as he walked off which made me realise that we were in an air conditioned building, the air conditioning was the only thing that was breaking the silence of the room before Price walked towards the door not saying a word just the sound of his boots crashing onto the floor broke the sound of the air conditioning.

I followed him and as he opened the door I was blasted by a barrage of heat causing sweat to roll down my forehead and to saturate the patch on my forehead. I could see the patch on my cheek was turning yellow from my sweat. I looked around the camp and spotted Syrup walking back over to the medical tent with the woman who he had gone for a drink with.

I then felt Porthos tap me on the shoulder and pulled me over towards Syrup, "Come on give the guy a break," I told Porthos as he continued to drag me over towards the man who was now stood outside the tent talking to the woman.

"Nah, he needs it," He replied as he brought me before the man and woman.

"What do you want?" the woman asked as she looked over to us.

"I just wanna talk to Syrup," Porthos told her as she looked past him at me I just shrugged at her not wanting to get involved.

"Why?" She continued to stand in the way of him actually getting to him.

"Just get out of the way woman," He then blurted out which was a bad move.

I saw her grit her teeth which was followed by her clenching her fist, 'Oh this will be good,' I thought as he stepped towards Syrup. Porthos placed his hand on Syrup's shoulder which made him recoil when Porthos reached into his pocket with his free hand.

"Mate do you want one of these," He asked Syrup as he pulled out a small silver wrapper, "Need one, she could be contagious."

"Right that's it you Welsh sheep shagging bastard," The woman told him as she grabbed his arm which was placed on Syrup's shoulders, she twisted his elbow around his back and smashed her foot into the back of his right leg. Porthos then crashed into the ground with a thud which made me cringe but it didn't as much as when she turned his wrist towards her chest causing his wrist to crack and Porthos to screech in pain. "Shut the fuck up, it's not broken or even dislocated just locked up, you pansy."

"Come on I think he's learned his lesson," I told her as Porthos continued to wince on the floor.

She threw his hand down onto his body in disgust and just walked into the medical tent, "Is the bitch gone?" Porthos asked in a muffled voice now clutching his elbow. Syrup took a step towards the tent but then took a run up and dived on top of Porthos and rained a series of blows down on him.

"Syrup, get off," I ordered but he just kept on raining blows down, "Oit, get off!" I shouted at him but he still continued he was in a state of almost blind rage. I took a step towards them to break them apart but before I did I saw a huge frame charge in and tackle Syrup off Porthos, I only reacted by checking Porthos over he had sustained quite the barrage but he was just bruised nothing too serious.

I looked up at who had Syrup pinned down, it was Grommit, he had his huge right hand placed over his face pushing it down into the dust Syrup's arms were still flailing around trying to get Grommit off. "Grom, let him go," One ordered as he walked over slowly with his M4 slung underneath his armpit.

Grommit slowly opened his grip and stood to one side, Syrup stood up and brushed the sand off his clothes his UBACS had been coated in a red dust which took a fair bit to shaking to remove. "Now what was this about?" One asked calmly, he spoke to the men around him like a friend rather than a commander, yet he still gave off an aurora of authority and benevolence.

"I think we both got too hot and things boiled over," Syrup replied calmly as if he hadn't been smashing seven bells of shit out of Porthos just seconds earlier.

"Right, well just so we can all cool off, Porthos get into that tent, the rest of you get on the range and get ready for live fire in ten," He turned to walk in the general direction of the range but paused, "Anchor go over to the armoury and get a new rifle, try not to fuck this one up," he then ordered as he walked off.

"Ah yeah I forgot you fucked up your rifle," Grommit told me in his normal joyful tone like he hadn't just tackled a grown man to the floor.

"Yeah I know it sucks right," I told him, "Atleast this thing is in one piece though," I said pulling my FN 5-7 from its holster, it seemed okay just choked full of dust still, I would have time to clean it later though.

"Clearly the Belgians like it dirty," Grommit told me as I put it away again.

"Yeah they do, where is the armoury?" I asked Grommit as we walked over to the range where I could see One and Jaeger firing their rifles down range.

"It's over there next to the HQ building, that tent," He pointed across the central parade square past a group of Liberian Army soldiers who were casually smoking more cigarettes than I think they had brain cells.

I double timed it over towards the tent but I could hear a set of heavy footsteps behind me, I looked over my shoulder to see who it was, their blonde hair was bouncing as they ran towards me they had a keen eye on where I was heading too.

"Yo, Anchor," they shouted as they caught up with me and jogged alongside me.

"Sup' you off to get your C7?" I asked him as I threw open the entrance to the tent and let them in.

"Yeah I put it in for a servicing, I think the dust in Eritrea thoroughly fucked it," He told me as he walked up to the desk which had a solitary soldier set behind it, they had a set of papers on the table which were all signed and authorised by General Shepherd.

We stood over the soldier who was busy writing off more ammunition and weaponry which would need Shepherd to sign off on again, I coughed getting the soldiers attention.

"Name?" The soldier simply questioned.

"Staff Sergeant Deuvea," Syrup told him simply as the soldier looked up his papaers in the stack on the desk.

"AH, you in for the Charlie 7?" the soldier asked being met by a nod from Syrup, he turned around to look inside a large green plastic crate, he then pulled out the rifle, "We made a few upgrades to this one, I think you might like it." He passed the green and black rifle over to Syrup who took it and grinned, "We've put a nice Fortis Rev rail up front it's a nice little keymod rail which only weights nine ounces, we've also fitted a newer version of the spectre scope which gives you a better sight picture at ranges greater than two hundred metres. It's also got a harder recoil spring and an improved butt pad which absorbs the recoil more efficiently."

"Nice, I'll give it a go at the range," He smiled at the armourer.

"Now onto you," He turned to me, "Name?"

"Warrant Officer Jacks," I told him, slightly nervous of what he was going to give me.

"Ah you, don't destroy this one please," He laughed as he looked back into the crate which the C7 came out of, "Right we've just given an L22a2 the go over, its got a new butt pad in the same style as the C7 to reduce the recoil, we've also added a longer handguard with the AFG and a new PEQ-16 to the left hand side to give you some illumination in a pinch and to give you a laser if you need to have NODs on."

"Good," I replied as he passed me the rifle, I clipped it onto my sling which I had over my shoulder, "Cheers mate, Syrup let's get to the range we're already late."

"Shit!" he replied and hurried out of the door towards the range, I just nodded at the soldier and left behind Syrup who was well on his way to the range. I looked past him and saw that Grommit and Jaeger were firing their rifles and moving up on the targets down the range, I could see that One and Price were stood looking at the pair as they made it to the firing line and took out the targets.

"You're late," Price told me and Syrup as we stood recovering from our run.

"Well they're here now," One said calmly as he nodded for us to get into position on the range, "Right you two will be doing fire and manoeuvre. Captain Price will explain."

"You'll move on position one and Anchor you will fire then Syrup you'll bunny hop further to position two and fire, then you'll repeat until you get to position nine and then take out the targets." He paused to take a puff on his cigar, "Off you fuck."

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter and have been enjoying the story I know it was a slow one but it had to be for the next few chapters (No spoilers). Anyway Please leave a review and tell me what you've thought of the story so far and how it could be improved **** anyway until the next time…. PEACE!**


	19. Chapter 19 Brief

Brief

**I hope you've been enjoying this story so far and will hopefully enjoy this chapter too **** anyway I will let the story roll as always I don't own COD but I do own M1J.**

A few days after we were dismissed by Shepherd we were told to report to the HQ centre by 0300Hrs which we knew was serious due to the time, it felt like I was back in SAS with the early fucking o'clock starts. I was pulled out of my bed by the alarm which I had set outside our tent, it made me get up and move which meant that I was awake.

I wandered out into the black of the Liberian night which was pretty bloody cold, it did wake me up and I knew that I would have to be awake for the meeting, I saw Grommit's massive frame blast past me, he didn't actually acknowledge me as he moved past but gave off a grunt.

"You not all that awake yet, Grom?" I asked forward to him as he just placed his head under a bucket of water which made his extremely toned abdomen and pectorals tighten making them even more prevalent.

He grunted something in Polish before turning back to the tent and running past me shouting, "Better!" I then heard a loud whip and a groan from inside the tent as I stretched my arms above my head watching a rather pissed off Jaeger move out of the tent.

"Fick dich, Polnisch," He shouted as he rubbed his stomach and pulling his shirt down to cover his new whip mark.

"powinny masz na czas," Grommit replied in Polish as he came back out with his shirt and trousers on with his weapon slung over his shoulder not wanting to leave it alone.

"English Grom, English," One told us as he shooed Syrup out of the tent and guided us over to the HQ. I made sure that my 5-7 was in place, I reached down feeling the clip which kept the hilt of the gun in its holster. I shuffled to keep up with Grommit who was just going through the door to the HQ, with a still extremely pissed off Jaeger holding it open.

"Come on Jaeger, you're not giving the pleasant German image that Merkel wants to give," I jokingly told him as I walked through the door into the somehow even darker room which was only illuminated by several computer screens.

"Haha very funny, arschloch," He replied as One and Syrup wandered into the room.

"Again English, you know Shepherd is made nervous by foreign languages," One chuckled as he checked around the room waiting for some sign of where to go.

We all sat in the dark only being able to see the rough outline of each other based on who was standing in front of the monitors. It must have been about five minutes reaching about 0259Hours before an unseen door next to Syrup ripped open with a medium framed man stood in the doorway, all that distinguished them from the faceless man was the glow emanating from the lower head area, it was followed by a puff of smoke and a raspy voice.

"Oit muppets, in 'ere," The smoky rasped voice of Price, emanated from the shadow.

We followed Price down a set of stairs which were better lit than the previous room but we were going deep underground from what I could tell. I could smell Price's cigar as we descended behind him, it hung in the air making me feel very much like I was back at Credenhill. Eventually the stair case ended and there were a couple of what I was assuming to be central idiot agency, but I couldn't tell they didn't have any recognisable tabs on, I just nodded as Price pushed them asunder to enter the room they were guarding.

I saw that Soap was leaning over the table looking down at a map which was covered in red writing and a series of circles, I walked over and tapped him on the shoulder. His hulking frame just turned slightly as he looked at me and nodded but turned back to his focal point on the map.

"You look like it's going to be a good one," I said to him as I stood up straight crossing my arms in the process.

"You've got no idea mate, remember Russia?" He asked, I felt a lump grow in my throat as Soap spoke, I just nodded feeling the excruciating pain I felt when that grenade went off under me, "Well this is going to be a whole different clusterfuck."

"Fucking great," I whispered whilst swallowing my lump and waiting for Price to start addressing us.

Price stood in the same way I did with his arms crossed and looking over all of us like a hawk. He just scanned us like he was looking for some kind of weakness some kind of regret but we all stood strong. I kept repeating Soap's warning in my head reliving what happened in Russia, I was beginning to feel very uncomfortable on my prosthesis, like I was when I had just gotten it.

"Gentlemen!" Shepherd commanded as he walked into the room from an adjacent one which I assumed was his bunk. One was the only team member to stand to attention as he walked in, Shepherd just looked at him and nodded him to ease.

"Sir," Price said simply as he stood to the side and Shepherd took the reins.

"Well as you all know, we've had some heavy activity over the border in Sierra Leone, we believe that a known HVT maybe there," He began pointing down at the larger map which highlighted a small clearing in the Sierra Leonean jungle about fifty miles inland from the border with Liberia.

"Which one?" Porthos simply butted in on Shepherd.

He's got balls, I thought to myself as a smirk grew across my face. "Well we have good intelligence that it's either Makarov or some of his lieutenants, maybe both," Shepherd continued seemingly unfazed by the interruption. "We've been surveying the area for about a month and we know for definite that Makarov has been on the ground," He told us as he slid a couple of photographs taken by UAVs towards us. "We took these three days ago, as far as we know he's still there no aircraft have been seen exiting the area and only a single Ka-52 is stationed on the ground."

"So they've got some heavy guns?" I queried picking up the images which displayed the twin rotored helicopter sat in a clearing just a few hundred meters from the base.

Price took back the reins from Shepherd again, "As far as we know they only have mortars but they could have some larger guns in the canopy," He pointed in a region about ten miles south of the position, "Here, they may have up to six Spruts in the trees, we won't know until they fire but we can't see anything on thermals." Price finished as he nodded the lead back to Shepherd.

"Thank you Captain," Shepherd responded begrudgingly, "You'll be attacking this place from an insertion point thirty clicks north so you'll be going in out of range of those guns." He then ran his hand around the area which would be facing us on the approach to the encampment, "We have good local intel that the west side boys are active in this area, they're the guys that Makarov is believed to be hiding with."

"They're also the guys who have been trying to overthrow the government for almost fifteen years, they're ex-SL army, oh and they also the guys who kidnapped the Royal Irish back in Barras," Price told us.

"I thought you and the Para's shoved a hot poker up their arse and burnt it clean," I told Price making him snigger a little as he continued talking.

"We only destroyed the largest sect, the rest moved into the jungle, regrouped and reorganised. Now they've re-emerged and made an attempt at making their move on Freetown."

"They clearly have their sights outa line," I laughed.

"Yeah but their still dangerous mate, especially with the whole world's concentration diverted on the outbreak in that area so they've been given free will to move at will," Price added.

"Aye, Sir," I replied letting the brief continue.

Shepherd continued to walk us through the approach to the camp, I followed every word but I still had the idea in my head that he was keeping something from us, he talked us through possible mine fields left from the civil war but we had means to get though those. I couldn't place my finger on it but I knew something wasn't right like the whole plan was rushed, not properly thought out.

I finally tuned back in at the final sentences of the brief, "You've been given an hour call card, don't give specs but you can tell them that you're in the continent, you all know the drill you've been SF for long enough. Also you'll be given two weeks leave after this one so get it done clean. Gentlemen, you're dismissed."

I scooped up the card that had been slid across the table to me, it had a series of numbers on it looking just like the call card I had been given in the marines. I guess that was what to expect when the base was essentially run by the British.

"Well I guess I should call Ash," I said trying to sound sarcastic but I really did want to hear her voice even if it would be over the grainy shitty waves that the sat phone could receive.

"You got a woman?" Grommit said as he pulled the door on the HQ shut.

"Yeah we've got one kid, she's deaf," I told him solemnly, "You?"

"Me?" He said in shock, "I've got an ex-wife and several children who don't speak to me because their mother poisoned their opinion of me."

"Shit dude, that's extreme," I told him as I placed my hand on his huge back, "Well atleast you can chase all that local." I raised my eyebrow at him.

"Yeah I guess but I'd honestly rather have your family life," He shot back catching me well of guard.

"The five am starts, no sex and the 'real' world," I exacerbated to him laughing as I did.

"Honestly," He started as we walked into our tent, "Yeah."

"Grom you being a pussy again," Pothos said to him as he slumped down on the bunk which he had claimed.

"Fuck you bitchtits," Grom replied as he laid back on his bunk.

"Alright sugar tits," Porthos replied sounding like Nessa from Gavin and Stacey.

"Right I'm going to the sat phone," I told the group as they slammed themselves down on the bunk but as I did Jaeger shot up and ran in front of me.

"Nope, my phone untermensch," He shouted back at me as he whipped off into the medical tent where I assumed the sat phone was.

"Oit fucker I'm not a fucking sub-human!" I shouted struggling to keep up with him on the sprint.

"Clearly you are," he grinned as he whipped into the tent in the dead cold of the night but we could just see the sun rising above the trees casting a glare across the lake. After about two minutes Jaeger walked out with the sat phone proudly in his hand. I just let him walk as I looked out over to the lake I could just about make out the periscope of the Oregon but I wasn't sure how deep the colossal craft actually sat.

I just observed for about half an hour it had gotten to almost daylight and the Liberian soldiers had started to stir and even took up their positions at their posts which did surprise me, maybe they were actually showing some professionalism. But it didn't last long as about ten minutes later they were all high on khat and drinking enough waragi to make an old sailor pissed, at least they were happy.

An hour had actually passed and Jaeger finally wandered over to pass me the sat phone, "All yours," he told me as I took the hulking great piece of grey matter it looked like a nineteen eighties mobile but the aerial was slightly longer and its arse was wider.

I just nodded at him as I hurriedly tapped in my house phone number, I listened to the tone pacing up and down outside the medical tent watching one of the Liberian soldiers just chew on his khat. I almost missed Ashley answering the phone by being too engrossed in watching the drug take effect on the soldier his eyes simply dilated and he jumped at every sound which must have been a nightmare to have in the jungle, where everything that flies, walks or squats in the mud makes some kind of noise.

"Hello?" Ashley questioned down the phone line.

"Hey, Ash," I said quietly.

"Oh my god!" She recoiled in what sounded like fear.

"You alright?" I asked but I didn't get a response, "Ash?"

"I'm sorry," She said sobbing down the phone.

"For what?" I said calmly trying to reassure her.

"Just crying, I should be happy," She paused, "But I just miss you."

"I miss you too babe," I told softly.

"So what's been going on?" She asked me.

"Well I'm a bloody jungle, it's hot and every soldier around me is basically stoned, so I'm in heaven," I replied sarcastically, "How's it been with you and Jessica?"

"It's been good, she went to nursery the other day and we've been called up by an ear specialist for her operation," She told me.

"That's great," I smiled knowing that she couldn't see it but I knew she knew what I was doing, "I have some good news."

"What's that?" She said sounding more excited than she had done when we starting talking.

"If everything goes to plan, I should be home for two weeks in about three days."

"What do you mean if everything goes to plan?" she asked now getting worried.

"Ash," I sighed, "You know I can't tell you, but all I can say is you'll never hear about it." I could hear her welling up again, "You know this isn't about trust," I told her.

"Yeah," She just said simply whilst sobbing again.

"Ash? What's up?" I heard Bailey in the background along with the giggles from Jessica, "Pom, you on the other end of there?"

"Aye it's me," I told her.

"What have you done now?" She asked me as I heard Ashley perk up, Bailey just had that effect on her.

"You know what I've done, I was stupid enough to accept this job," I said her seriously but Bailey being Bailey she just made a joke out of it.

"Yeah but you're a marine, that means you have minus seventy percent of a normal brain." She laughed at me, "But seriously, there's nothing bad about taking that job for the reasons you did, you care about your partner and your daughter, what's honestly wrong with that?"

"Nothing," Ashley said quietly.

"So when are you coming back here?" Bailey asked.

"He's back in three days if everything goes well," Ashley answered for me as I paced around in the ever increasing heat of the Liberian sun.

"What's that mean?" Bailey asked.

"That I can't say anything about it," I said to her.

"Oh, one of those things?" She asked me.

"I will say all I can when I get back," I told them both as I counted down the time I had on the phone. "I have to get back to work there's a lot to do before I step off and it won't do itself." I paused, "I love you all, and will see you in a few days."

"We love you too," Ashley quietly said as I pressed the button to hang the phone up. I just looked over my shoulder seeing the gaggle of Porthos and One who were waiting for the phone, "sorry boys."

**I hope you've enjoyed the story thus far and will enjoy it until it ends **** I have actually got a plan on where I want to end but I will keep that part a secret :p so please leave a review and tell me what you want to see happen and a few suggestions that have been made may actually happen or did I have that planned all along :p so until the next time …PEACE!**


	20. Chapter 20 The Drop

The Drop

**Hello peoples, I know I haven't updated in a while but here we go we're almost there with this one the pinnacle of the story is almost here how will it evolve you will have to read to find out. As always I do not own COD but I do own M1J.**

I was on my way back over to the tent where Price was chatting to Jaeger, I couldn't make out much but Price looked serious much like he used to when we were preparing for the drop in the regiment. As I got closer I could hear a few snippets of the conversation but before long Price snapped onto my presence and started to stare me out.

"You ready for this," Jaeger asked me as I nodded to them both.

"Aye, you never know it could be fun," I told them as I stood in their new circle, "I'm not too keen on the Rusky involvement though."

"Ja, they don't play fair huh?" The German joked as he sparked a cigarette.

"You've never played with them have you?" Price asked him as he pulled out his box of cigars, "Bollocks only one left."

"You want one of these?" Jaeger asked holding out his box of Marlboro, Price just shook his head, "Nein I'm Deutsch, I spent my life chasing down Mossad trying to kill of the elderly population," He joked.

"Sins of our fathers," Price said putting his cigar box back in his pocket.

"Ain't it a bitch," Jaeger replied blowing out a puff of smoke.

"Team, in the tent now," One ordered from across the parade square not getting the attention of the cracked out Liberian soldiers. He charged over to us and closed the tent behind everyone. "We've had a few developments on the ground," He told us solemnly, "Right we've had some intel from the ground, our informant, her village and several other villages around the AO have been massacred by something new."

"Bugger, what was it?" Price asked him as I watched One pull out a revised map of the AO.

"Something we're yet to encounter, we believe it could be a Sarin based chemical but we can't be too sure at this time," He told Price as he pointed down at a building which previously not been marked as target by command.

"How was it delivered?" I asked him as I looked over the pictures displaying the aftermath of the attack, an area about three square kilometres had been wiped off the face of the planet and our initial point of entry had now been annihilated.

"We believe by arty, but we can't rule out an aerial delivery," He shot back.

"What could deliver something like that that we didn't detect?" Syrup then asked.

"That's the thing, we don't know," He paused briefly, "it could be a result of the new Russian advancements in modernising their military."

"Fucking great so we could have something dropped on us when we go in?" I outburst causing the situation to become that little bit more tense.

"We're training the sub to give us a ten minute warning on a breach over the airspace up to seventy five thousand feet, so we shouldn't get caught off guard," One replied sharply hoping to calm the atmosphere.

"Well that is reassuring," I replied, I was nervous about the op due to the nature of who we were there to grab, I didn't have much to go on only Soap's words that it would be worse than Russia.

"We don't believe that it was dropped by air, we believe that the artillery that we mentioned earlier is the true source of the weapon, that's why we've got some Liberian Air Force jets marked ready to strike the arty essentially rendering them useless."

"How are we getting in now?" Price asked changing the atmosphere with his authoritative voice, he simply oozed a commanding domineer.

"The insertion point has been relocated to the south of the camp where there isn't a single human contact for miles around the target is a river and then a creek which leads up to the camp," One pointed out following with his finger the long snaking river that we were going to be heading down towards the insertion point.

"How are we getting there? HAHO or HALO?" Grommit added his large frame to the conversation.

He looked up at all of us, "We're going in through drop off from a CH-46 Sea Knight with a RHIB in tow, were hoping to touch down in a spot on a widened area of the Moa river."

"Which is where we'll head up stream and brass the fuck outa that camp," Porthos almost shouted with joy.

"Not so fast, we're still going to try and get this done cleanly, no noisy contact, keep it quiet," One ordered trying to hush the excited Welshman.

I looked around the room waiting to see who would be the first to speak, I saw Price inhale deeply as if he was about to talk. However I thought that I knew what he was going to say so I simply got there first, "When are me mobilising?" I asked watching Price exhale rapidly and with force. I could hear the distant sounds of rotor blades.

"As soon as that thing lands," Price told us as the sounds became louder and louder. I could tell it was a tandem rotored helicopter just through the sounds of the blades cutting through the air, it sounded much like a raging firefight only from the air. I felt the roof of the tent move as the helicopter came in low, we exited the tent watching the thing get lower in the air whilst a truck barrelled towards the makeshift helicopter landing pad in the sand.

Just as the landing gear of the chopper impacted the sand the comparably small framed General Shepherd climbed out of the truck in his ACU coloured fatigues. The man in the back who had been guarding the briefing room clambered clumsily out of the rear driver's side seat and tore open the tail gate of the truck exposing our arsenal of weapons but there was one which I didn't recognise.

It was an M4 fitted with a series of laser sights and a suppressor, Price scooped up the rifle from the tailgate and walked towards the helicopter which maintained its rotor spinning. I picked up my L22 ahead of Syrup and headed over to the chopper behind Price.

"You ready for this one?" Price whispered to me as the ramp dropped on the chopper and he watches as I climbed aboard.

I nodded to him still apprehensive about where we were going I knew that across the border was a hot zone but with Russian Spec Ops there I didn't want to get to heavily involved. "It unnerves me that we don't know enough about the target, do we even have maps of the AO?"

"No we just know to head up stream and get to the camp, if you want my opinion Shepherd is pushing his luck on this one," Price replied as he took a seat next to me on the left side of the fuselage with the RHIB at our toes.

"Well we're the best there are so shut it and get on with it," One put me in my place which didn't do much to ease my fears.

I just sat back in my seat listening to the shaking of the helicopter as it lifted into the air, my head bashed against the head restraints which sent an almost ear shattering sound through my helmet which conducted down my ear and felt like it ruptured my eardrums. I checked my flashlight to make sure that it was still attached to the side of my head, it was which was lucky as the impact had made my left ear ring.

The frame buffeted as it kept through the air, out of the opposite window I could see the tree tops only a few feet below the aircraft. I felt the souls of my feet bounce off the floor as the huge frame bumped up and down. I continued to shake feeling more apprehensive, time was slowing the rotor blades were no longer a consistent hum, I could actually differentiate each individual swing of the blades. I could almost feel the displaced air from the rotors brushing my hair under my helmet like it was whipping past my face. The smell emanating from the forest was strong it resembled excrement or burning flesh, it stuck to the back of my throat like tar.

"Oh shit," Grommit stood gazing out of the window over my head.

"What is it?" Price ordered over the silence which existed within the airframe.

Grommit pointed which made Porthos stand up next to me and look out of the adjacent window, "Well I presume that was the village that received the bombing."

"That would be it," One said as he remained seated next to where Grommit should have been, Syrup and Jaeger kept their eyes on the floor as we drifted past the burnt wreckage of a village that remained.

I turned on my seat and looked out of the port side windows the burnt out buildings had still had the remnants of drapes hanging from their windows; they drifted effortlessly in the breeze a solemn reminder about what had happened.

"Sit back down," Price snarled but I ignored him and kept gazing out of the window. However after a few seconds I felt someone pull me backwards, I didn't look at who it was I just felt the metal plate of the seat ram into my arse causing a jolting pain to shoot up my coccyx, this was met by a swift jab in the face. "Do what you're fucking told next time," Price exclaimed into my face as I tried to see if I had a bloodied nose. I looked past Price and saw that everyone else had sat back in their seats, Grommit had his head rested on the butt plate of the machine gun which he had sat with the barrel situated inside one of the gaps in the floor.

We continued to bump through the air towards our new LZ yet in the back of my mind I yearned to go back to the burnt village, the smell of burnt flesh and decaying bodies still clung to everything in the air frame. I could almost taste it in the lump which had grown in my throat. I kept my eyes fixated forwards not looking at anyone or anything in particular just waiting for the horrific ride to be over.

A crackle came over the intercom within the helicopter, "Five minutes to splash down."

One stood up and moved into the centre of the walkway up the aircraft at the nose of the RHIB, "Five minutes get in the boat, Price you take the tiller, Anchor you take up front with me seeing as how we've had the most experience with water born warfare."

"Well if you insist," I replied as I climbed over the edge of the boat and sat up front with One who balanced his bore on the ropes with were strewn across the upper edge of the boat's inflatable pontoons.

I felt the huge frame of Grommit press up against me as he placed his minimi on the pontoon next to me at the 3 o'clock position, I heard him pull back and then release the bolt on the gun. Jaeger was planted in the centre of the group with his PSG-1 and his head on a swivel, Syrup took up the rear next to price who was hunkered down next to the tiller waiting for us to be dropped in the river.

"One minute, Mike One Juliet, One Minute," the intercom crackled as the whole frame shuddered, I could feel my body being lurched forwards as the huge vehicle stopped and hovered over the river below. After a few seconds the ramp at the rear of the aircraft dropped.

I felt my heart pound as the boat dropped off the ramp. I felt almost completely weightless as the craft sank through the air. It seemed to take minutes when in actual fact it probably wasn't even a second that we were in the air. I had enough time to look back at Price who was hunkered down next to the tiller but he obviously spotted me as he gave me a quick wink which was followed by the splash down of the boat. Breaking the surface tension of the water sent it splashing into the boat and coating the occupants in a layer of water.

"Check your weapons, we don't know what's waiting for us up here," One ordered which sent an array of metallic clacks and clinks throughout the craft breaking the sound of the noisy rotor blades, which seemed to hang around forever yet I knew that it was racing away trying not to get us compromised at this very early stage of the mission.

"Why hasn't he fucked off yet?" Porthos asked in his very welsh accent.

"He has it's just so damn flat here that the sound carries for miles," I replied which was concurred by a sound for Syrup who was covering an ark directly overlooking the treeline on the bank.

"Price get us moving I don't wanna be stuck at infil for too long," One ordered to Price who hurriedly got the outboard going and we slowly crept up the river towards our target.

I knew it was approximately twelve nautical miles to the AO but I had no idea the direction that this river would lead us on all I was told that six clicks away we would have to disembark to get there on foot.

Thirty minutes down the river on the boat we were approaching the drop point when Syrup suddenly sprang into life, "Two contacts our direct three, one male, one female, I don't see weapons," He whispered across to us.

"Have they seen us?" One asked as he turned a few degrees to look at his contact.

"I can't tell, but they've frozen."

"Fuck," One exhaled as he stood up on the boat peering through his scope to look over the contact. He rocked the boat as he jumped out I followed with haste, he scrambled up the bank with his rifle held in just his right hand.

I just reached the crest of the bank when I spotted that One had the man pinned down with his rifle in his face but the woman was still running so I sprinted to catch up with her grabbing her by her waist and rugby tackling her to the floor.

"Stay down," One ordered to the man who was attempting to struggle to get free.

"Don't shoot, don't shoot," the woman shouted terror stricken as she stayed perfectly still underneath me. I stood guard not pointing my barrel at her because I could see she was unarmed, however I was about to put a cable tie around her wrists but he voice stopped me. "We're friendly no threat," She said still remaining motionless.

"One stand down," Price said calmly over the radio, "Give them the challenge."

One sighed as he hauled the man to his feet, "Tropic."

The man brushed himself down and looked One in the eyes, "Thunder." He hissed whilst looking towards me as I helped the woman to her feet. "Why are you always so rough with the locals, we did not attack you why is the need for force?"

"My apologies Sir, we couldn't take any chances, my colleague was simply following our rules," I told him holding out my hand to give him a hand shake.

"Ah a British Officer, now I am in my own company, not these Americans," The man said as he pointed at my slide.

"No Sir, I am merely a Warrant Officer 2nd Class," I replied shaking his hand.

"Ah now I see, it's been a while since my time in the Royal Armoured Corps," He explained. He looked past me seeing something coming up the bank, "Lieutenant Price," He exclaimed with a smile, "It's been too long, you were last here what in two thousand? Why have you not come back as you said?"

"Major Kuti," Price said as he took the man's hand shaking it violently, "It's been too long mate, Op Barras was a long time ago now, I am back now anyway." He paused looking at the woman, "Is this Elizabeth?"

"Yes, my daughter has grown since your last visit hasn't she?" The man said parading the woman around proudly, "Are you heading to the camp?"

"Yeah we're on the way there now," One said butting into the conversation.

"Okay I'll take you to a better OP than you had planned I feel that route is no longer viable," The Major told us setting off into the dense jungle.

"I'm assuming command of this mission now," Price ordered as he walked forwards up the river followed by Syrup and Jeager, "Grom, scuttle the boat…Quietly."

I covered Grommit as he punched a hole in the keel of the boat with his knife causing it to slowly sink into the river. I helped him up the edge of the bank pulling him by the drag handle on the rear of his body armour. He nodded to me as he regained his balance on the apex of the bank to which we continued to follow the rest of the squad.

It took about an hour and a half of trudging into the jungle, trying to leave everything intact as if we hadn't even been there.

"Here we go my friends, I have to leave or the refugee village will become suspicious of our leave," The Major told us as he grabbed Elizabeth by the arm and pulled her away.

"Jaeger crack out the rifle, Syrup you spot," Price ordered as he sat down next to a tree, so I climbed under a small banana bush, Grommit took up over watch with his machine gun next to the tree that Price had sat up next to and One simply crouched down next to Syrup who was dialing in his rifle.

Another hour passed when Jaeger suddenly broke into action, "Sir, I've got eyes on two times armed men with one hostage, exiting the main site building," He calmly read off as he continued to track the targets whilst One and Syrup trained onto them.

"Ah shit that's the Major," Syrup said as he continue to observe.

Price and I scrambled to the precipice of the ledge which was overlooking the camp, I peered through my scope and spotted the Major being held with an AK to the back of his head. "Shit, do we escalate?" I asked Price who had his own rifle trained on the spot.

"Not yet?" He replied keeping his sight trained on the target.

"I got a man in a black suit in green body armour moving left to right, ten metres from the POI," Jaeger told us as he moved slightly to get on the new target.

"That's our man," Price told us as I watched the man, I continued to follow his as I spotted a silver weapon get draw from behind Makarov's body armour. "Hang on," Price had just managed to get out before a shot rippled through the jungle, "Right, now we're escalating," Price said as he lowered his weapon and broke his radio silence. "Haymaker, Mike One Juliet, we're escalating early due to the VIP being in the AO, we will attempt to snatch, out?"

"Shouldn't we wait for them to confirm?" One asked Price before he could set off down through the jungle towards the camp.

Price waited for a second for the radio to crackle and as soon as it did he pressed the kill switch and hot micked the frequency, "I think that's the authorisation."

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter hopefully the final chapter will be out quickly but I wouldn't hold up many hopes as I have a lot going on with the Summer Break going on, for those who care I have now finished my BSc in Chemistry with a 1****st**** and will be doing my MChem year starting in September so I will be hopefully updating regularly from then **** until the next chapter…PEACE!**


	21. Chapter 21 Point of Inflection

Point of Inflection

**Here we go, the finale hopefully its well-received I think this one on the whole has been so thank you for the support and I will hopefully continue the story soon. I'll leave you to enjoy **** as always I don't own COD but I do own M1J.**

I pushed a small coffee bush out of the way it's huge leaves battering me back as I pushed through, that however wasn't the worst part, after I had gotten through the bush I was confronted by a humongous drop almost straight down.

"Well this could be a problem," I said calmly looking down the slope.

"What are you on about?" Porthos replied sliding down the slope on one knee digging his toes in to slow his descent.

When I reached the bottom I landed in an irrigation dyke. Due to the continued rainfall in the area for the last few weeks it was at least three feet deep, the water and crud flushed out the handguard and internals of my rifle which I hoped wouldn't cause me any problems in the near future.

"Try and keep it dry gents," Price ordered as he heard me trying to clear the breach on my rifle.

"I guess I should have bitten the pillow first then," I joked as I dislodged the crap from my breach flicking out a few stones and other items I did not wish to think about, this was followed by a deluge of water and a single brass cartridge. I then struggled to shut the breach after the round had ejected, "Piece of crap fucking close," I said to myself as I smashed my palm into the forward assist just about dislodging the bolt.

Jaeger overtook me in the dyke taking aim with his PSG-1 he then held up his hand to signal us to stop, "Contact, three zero metres, four times pax."

Price raised his rifle to spot what Jaeger was seeing, he then nodded to One who ducked under the water, I then followed him.

The water was so murky that I could barely see One, I roughly knew where he was by the movement of the sludge which I hoped the contact couldn't see from above. I felt him stop moving in front of me so I sat under the water, I was running low on air, I was beginning to asphyxiate. I heard a rushing sound which must have been One breaking the surface of the water I did the same raising my rifle aiming at the contact, up close I could see the pax in the contact.

They were simply four men all surrounding an old Jeep Wrangler, its paint was starting to come off I could see flecks of rust. We popped up the men noticed us but didn't immediately go for their weapons, they were too off their heads on khat to care. Price whispered through the radio to try and get more information.

"What are we dealing with?" He asked quietly, I spotted Grommit move in closer in my periphery.

"Four men, all surrounding a jeep, do we engage?" I asked Price resting my rifle on One's shoulder as he raised his M4.

"Attempt to apprehend, if that fails smoke them, just keep it quiet we're too close to the camp for anything loud," He replied cautiously. One and I moved closer I could feel the pax eyes on us I think they may have thought we were strange river turtles or something but as soon as One attempted to climb the bank the worst happened, one of them grabbed his AK and started spraying wildly at us.

We were pinned right underneath the bank only five feet or so from the pax who was emptying his rifle in our direction, after we hear the click of his rifle a few short almost micro bursts of 5.56mm fire flew over our heads.

"Nice shot Grom, you tow get out of the ditch we need to move," Price ordered. I clambered out onto the bank at the same time as One brushing off the mud and crap that the river had deposited on my clothes.

"I think I might need the Persil when we get back," I said to One sarcastically taking up a covering position whilst everyone attempted to pull themselves out of the mud.

"What is Persil?" One asked confused.

"A washing detergent," I said thinking it was obvious, how had he not heard of Persil.

"You and your Brit crap, get some Tide," He joked back, I think he was liking not actually assuming command he could relax and just soldier on, "Plus I think there's worse than mud in that water."

"Check that brother," I told him as I saw Grommit exit the dyke and take up an over watch on the other side of the road followed by Price then Syrup but Jaeger was stuck at the bottom of the bank his rifle and kit was bogging him down. I reached down holding out my hand to lift him out of the muck which he took and I hauled him up, feeling the suction of the mud pulling him back as he moved.

I moved off the road covered by the remainder of the team and covered everyone else's advance away from the contact. "Mike One Juliet, Mike One Juliet, come in, this is General Shepherd, identify," An angry groan from the gruff general echoed through our headsets.

"Shepherd, this is Price, we have proceeded onto the target zone, things have escalated, we've just had a hard contact but we are attempting to bypass and continue on mission, over?" Price told Shepherd begrudgingly, he scowled at One as he moved up past him taking a position higher on the hillside as we approached a clearing in the forest.

"Roger that, we're patching you through to SATCOM, they're giving you soul control over the geosync cam for the duration of your op. Mark the POI on your end and we'll assess from here, Shepherd out!"

"Well I guess that's on you Syrup," I nodded to the Canadian who was pulling out a tablet attempting to communicate with the satellite.

"They're not up yet," Syrup whispered placing the tablet inside his front panel in his body armour.

"We keep moving but when we get the comms, you get on it," Price ordered as we pushed up the slope seeing more and more of the camp come into view.

I shifted forwards pointing my rifle towards the camp scanning for any signs of movement, I kept looking eventually spotting an old GAZ rolling down the road towards us. "Fuck, I can see that search party in coming," I whispered through the radio freezing as they came past me by only ten feet or so.

"I see 'em," Price said simply.

"Hold up," Grommit overruled the movement, taking up the rear guard, "They've stopped, about twenty metres behind us, one guard is out, he's armed with a rather flashy AN."

I heard someone shuffle rearwards in the direction that Grommit had spoken from, "Yeah I see them," Porthos told us, I turned to look at what was happening. I spotted Grommit and Porthos aiming their weapons down the slope at the GAZ sat below us. "Now there's multiple hostiles at the bottom of the riven, three rifles, one light machine gun, looks like on has a radio." Porthos continued, "I think we should press on."

"Good plan we won't get anywhere at this rate," One calmly assessed walking past me up the treeline.

Syrup pressed up to me when he pulled out the tablet, "I've got a connection, it's weak and blurry but atleast it's something."

I nodded to him keeping one eye on the search team, Price took up an over watch looking down at what we could see of the camp from our position. "Syrup, what you got?"

Syrup scanned the screen, "Looks like we've got an area of open ground up to the village, the village itself looks like it has a church in the centre and two large structures either side of that, my guess is that the VIP is in one of those structures, sir."

"Enough of that," Price scorned Syrup, "Mark them on the scanner just for political correctness, huh One?" he prodded at the deposed master.

"Aye aye," One replied keeping his eyes on the prize in the village.

"Captain Price, this is General Shepherd, we have your targets proceed to the church and the long building, our pictures indicate both seem to contain a heavy weapons cache, from what we can make out they have a heavy mortar and several other light mortars."

"Right then, looks like we need to hit in two places at once," Porthos said calmly peering down the road towards the patrol who were packing up and returning to the camp.

"Yeah, how are we going to work this one?" I asked Price who was now only a few feet from the open ground on the village approach.

"There appears to be a ditch I can barely see it on the SATCOM but it's there, someone just needs to get across the road." Syrup paused, "that ditch should lead you straight to the church, from there we have to get someone to the long building, it's to the left from here, you'll need to head through two of the main buildings within the camp but after that it will be at your direct front up an approximate thirty degree incline."

"Who's going?" Gromit asked as he placed his machine gun across his knee.

Price looked every man in our squad straight in their eyes, he eventually came to rest on me, "You and One, will take the long house, Porthos and I will take the church, you will move as soon as we enter the church," He ordered, I could only nod in response waiting for someone to move. "Well?"

"You better get going," One said standing tall above the rest of our group who were all in a crouch trying to not draw attention from the group of men who flew past in the GAZ. "Syrup, you got anywhere that looks like a good OP?"

"Yeah, I've got a sheltered spot about two hundred metres up that ridge," He pointed up the ridge behind us.

"Hang on," I hushed the group waiting for something that I thought I had heard from the camp.

"What?" Grommit questioned.

He was about to continue but I raised my hand abruptly, "Shut the fuck up," I waved, almost as I did an old Russian Ural troop carrier. It bumped along the road I could hear the loose shaky weapons, the old AKs cracked at every bump. "I think they've passed, Price get going, we'll get to the cliff."

"Roger that, remember move on our infil," Price ordered setting off with Porthos towards the ditch leading through the camp.

"Let's move," One took charge once Price and Porthos were safely in the ditch. It took us about ten minutes to move up the ridge. Once we were there Syrup and Jaeger set up an over watch position, "Can you see them?" One asked trying to contact Shepherd on his secure channel.

"Yeah I got them, what's the haste? We rush," Jaeger paused adjusting his scope, "We rush, we die. It's a sad fact but true."

"I don't like these atmospherics, I can't ping Shepherd," One blurted frustrated still trying to reach command.

"Hey," I slapped his hand from his PTT, "Get your shit together, I can have you tweaking when we're down there." I told him angrily genuinely being annoyed at his sudden break in professionalism.

"I'll stop when I get through to command," he replied sounding like a child.

I grabbed him by the shoulder straps on his plate carrier and threw him to the floor, "Get your…." I was cut off by the sound of gunfire from the camp. "What the fuck was that?" I demanded getting down next to our over watch and observing the camp.

"That's not aimed at our guys, it came from the long house," Jaeger calmly recited following a small area around the long house.

"Fuck this, I'm breaking SOP and radio silence," I told the group as I pressed the button on my vest opening the comms with Price and Grommit, "Price, I take it you heard that fire, we're just checking in, are you still online?" I asked over the channel hoping for a response from the old man.

I received nothing for at least three minutes until a quiet series of clicks came over the radio, several dots followed by a single dash, "They're all clear," I told the group calmly so we continued the over watch. "Jaeger, you get back on them, I'll over watch the long house, let's see if we can get what those shots were," I ordered whilst One still cowered on the floor behind us.

I heard someone shuffle behind us as One clambered to his feet, he dusted himself down adjusted his plate carrier and scooped up his M4. I felt him hunker down next to me scanning the area with his scope from where we were we had a direct line of sight on the long house door.

We observed constantly I kept one eye on the door the other on a window where I thought I had seen a shadow dance past making me think it was occupied by at least one person. It was a few minutes before the door opened and three men trickled out, all were clad in expensive black suits with a large armoured vest on underneath. One even had the neck guard, shoulder pads and crotch plate, packed for a fight one might say.

"I've got two guys rolling down past me not locals, keeping my eyes on the long house Jaeger take over." I ordered.

We waited for ten minutes until we heard the jaunted crackle over the radio, "Are you sure it's them?" An unfamiliar and sinister voice echoed through my earpiece. His voice sounded foreign, eastern European maybe but speaking English? "I have wanted to meet this man for a long time, I hope he lives up to my expectations." The man continued.

"Syrup, why can I hear that?" Queried One who seemed to have regained his senses.

"It's coming from Price, as far as I can gather," He responded confused just looking at his screen trying to get further information.

"Jaeger, have you still got eyes on them?" I asked adding into the conversation.

It took Jaeger a few seconds to reply, "I can't see them directly but gauging from their last know pos, I think they're behind a group of five pax, well I say behind I think they're under the bridge." He told us, we now knew for sure that they were definitely close to the target area, we even had eastern European conformation of Russian activity.

Our small party grew silent as the conversation on the ground continued, "Yes, our informant has told us that it's definitely them," An African man replied to the eastern European, he sounded excited, probably off his head on Khat.

"Good," The euro replied.

Jaeger soon kicked into action as he followed the man, "We've got two BeeGees with one times VIP, his frame fits, Sir?" Jaeger said sounding almost quizzical.

"Yeah?" One responded harshly, he was tweaking from one emotion to the next.

"I think that's him," Jaeger said forcing me to scramble to meet where his optic was facing.

"Shit just got very real," I said following the target towards the church not thinking about who else may have been in the building.

"Captain Price, I've waited so long," The voice crackled through the radio once more.

"Price he's got a gun!" Porthos shouted which was still coming through Price's comms. A loud scuffle could be heard through the radio followed by a loud gunshot which rocked the canopy above the camp. Birds in the trees above us scattered and flew in every direction.

I felt my heart pound, then it hit me, we still hadn't proceeded towards the long house. "One, we need to move now," I ordered barging past Grommit who was still watching our six.

"Rog'," He replied bounding after me.

It took us a minute or two to get down onto the basin and the edge of the camp. I rushed out with One covering me. My back smashed into the hut behind me as I covered One to cross the several tens of meters of open ground.

"Let's get into that building," I said peering round the corner towards the long house.

"Now, whoever is still on this channel," He continued, "If you leave now, I will drop your friend off in a hospital in Monrovia," He paused again, "If you do not you will all be executed, Price was my prize now get out." He ended the conversation killing the mic with another loud shot.

"Price?" I demanded across our open channel, "Price come in." I shouted again.

"Anchor! Cool it! We cannot be compromised," One told me abruptly grabbing my hand and shaking it from my PTT, "not now, the old man's tough, we need to secure the long house."

"Rog'" I nodded proceeding to the corner of the building overlooking the road leading towards the long house.

"One…. Anchor…." A barely responsive voice echoed through the radio, they sounded weak.

"Shit, that's Porthos," I whispered to One who was covering my ass whilst I plotted our route to the long house, "Porthos, hang in there brother, we're coming to ya'." I told him knowing that we would first have to tackle the long house.

"I'll just sit tight then," Even in his state he had his humour at least.

"Anchor, move!" One ordered. I spotted my assault route I would bound up to a set of oil drums from there I would cover One right up to the house, I explained this just before bounding forwards.

I pressed my back into the drums waiting for One to move but before he did I raised Syrup on the radio, "Syrup, get on evac now, we're about to storm the long house."

"Roger that Anc, I'll raise Shepherd."

"Good get on it," I rushed to get out, just able to get back to my rifle before One burst around the corner from the building and blasted past me. He rammed his large frame into the left side of the door, he rifle bore covered my advance up onto the wooden structure. I smashed on the opposite side of the door, "Ready?" I asked raised my rifle and readying myself to open the door.

"Ready," One nodded back, he shouldered his M4 pressing the butt plate deep against himself.

I reached across tightly holding the spherical door knob, I nodded towards One grabbing the thing tighter just beginning to twist the knob slowly. Time slowed as I threw the door backwards and One flew past into the room. I heard something just as I set foot into the room, One was about eight feet in front of me. That's the point where everything went red; it shook me to the core. Tearing through the room I felt my every fibre get torn, my prosthesis parted from my leg. It embedded itself about four feet away in what was left of the ceiling.

The dust, wood and smoke settled around me, I was laid out looking down on the scorched floor. The cracks in the floor had been opened up by the event, I pressed my hand onto the floor forcing one of the dislodged floor boards out and smashing me into the floor as it gave way. I sighed grabbing one of the upright foundations, pushing my weight through it I managed to roll onto my back. It sent excruciating pain through my shoulders and neck where I had been thrown against the wall.

I checked myself over, I pulled the quick release on my body armour freeing myself which made my ribs shudder with the pain. I yanked my shirt out of my trousers lifting it up I realised that it was all black and red.

I laid back hearing the crackle emanate from the radio still attached to my plate carrier, slowly reaching across I grabbed the pouch ripping it from the plate carrier. I held it close to my face, sucked in as much air as my lungs could manage and, whilst depressing the talk button, screamed at the top of my lungs. I knew that I would be dead anyway if I was left here so I'd take my chances that the guy's might come get me first.

The static came back over the radio channel, it clicked slightly which gave me hope that someone was on their way.

Ten minutes must have passed when several large shadows came into my blurred vision, I laid as still as possible not knowing who they were but I could hear them and after several sentences I realised that they were not friendly. I heard the clack of an AK but this was not followed up by a bang.

"Let him go," One of the shadows said as I was picked up off the ground, "If you follow, you will fall," They demanded into my face throwing me back on the ground, "Take Price to the chopper."

I felt my breathing slow and it became more laboured, this was a bad sign for me as it meant that my lungs were beginning to collapse. I struggled to breathe laying on the floor it seemed to last for an age before I heard distant gunshots, followed up by a flurry of engines revving.

I waited for something to happen however I didn't have to wait long, "Anchor!" A voice shouted which I could just about hear as breathing was becoming more difficult, I was having to force the air into my lungs almost manually. "Shit!" The voice shouted as a shadow covered me I felt them holding something against my chest.

"Help me," I tried to reach out but as I did I felt a sharp pain in my side. I felt my heart speed up and then crash, it had stopped but suddenly it restarted, I felt a thud, then another and another until I was able to feel like my body was functioning again by itself.

The pain had decreased and my vision stopped being so blurry I could actually identify the people around me, Jaeger and Syrup were crouched over my body, I didn't know where Grommit was but that didn't matter to me at that time.

I coughed causing a shooting pain to emanate through my chest, "Syrup," I spoke, I was feeling very weak, "You need," I coughed again, "to put in a chest drain, my lung on my right side has collapsed." I pause trying to regain my breath, "you have to put in a chest drain," I ordered still squirming from the shock.

"How?!" Syrup exclaimed obviously the stress was overwhelming.

"Grab the rear of my carrier," I told him pointing to the rear plate which had parted when I used the quick release. He hurriedly passed me the back of the carrier. I tore open the pocket and retrieved a long, off peach coloured, tube with a sharp needle at one end. "Place this in the right side, four ribs down from my armpit," I told him calmly passing him the array of tubing.

His hands shook as he took the tube and needle, "Are you sure?" He asked, I just nodded I knew that the pain would only get worse if one wasn't inserted soon. "How deep?" He shook brushing my skin with the needle tenderly.

"Four centimetres, you'll feel some resistance after about an inch," I paused failing to breathe, "You need to push through it, that's just the intercostal muscles."

He took a deep breath and I shut my eyes trying to relax my chest, so it would be as smooth as possible for Syrup to insert the drain. I felt the needle start its drive into my chest, it seemed to take an age but I could feel the needle was straight and true.

I heard Jaeger scream as he started to fire his PSG, "Contact, they're fucking back!" He hammered off rounds in a way I never thought he could. I continued to feel Syrup pushing in the needle until it went through my intercostal muscles and the pressure exploded out of the drain forcing a cough from my now convulsing body.

Syrup then picked up the fight next to me firing his rifle the short sharp bursts of automatic fire rocked my semi fluid filled chest. I saw a target attempt to flank our position they had a t-shirt around their face and were bare chested, I couldn't see their weapon but I still reached down for my 5-7. Swapping it to my left hand I fired about six shots seeing the figure drop to the floor I relaxed but the fire around me continued.

"Syrup where the hölle ist der unterstützung?" Jaeger broke into his native tongue.

"Fuck knows!" Syrup replied taking cover and throwing Jaeger his C8, "Romeo six tango, this is Mike one Juliet, where the fuck are you?" Syrup exclaimed into his headset, intermittently firing his revolver.

"Hang on in there," The radio on Syrup's chest rattled, "Support in two mikes!"

"Syrup, check my eleven, Grommit and Porthos crossing," Jaeger shouted emptying the magazine on the C8.

"Roger," Syrup replied scooping up Jaeger's PSG and dumping all of his magazines on the floor next to Jaeger. I slumped against the wall which they were engaging the enemy from and spotted a figure laying face down on the floor covered mostly by fallen rubble that had fallen during the explosion. They had no clothes on the top half of their body with deep running wounds leaking into the gaps on the wooden floor. Their bottom half was twisted at an unnatural angle with what looked like their femur being dislocated and poking into the pocket of their combats.

"One's down!" I mustered the ability to screech in my broken voice, the act of doing so tore my larynx which sent blood coursing down my face.

"Where?" Grommit shouted as he placed a bleeding Porthos next to me, I didn't have the energy to speak with my torn mouth so I pointed in the general direction of the rubble pile. "Oh fuck!" Grom replied shooting over to the pile and digging deep into the pile attempting to free One.

"Mike One Juliet, keep your head down!" A voice crackled over the radio followed shortly by a familiar comforting sound. It sounded like tearing paper or a zip undoing, this was followed by utter devastation on the other side of the wall. Death rained from the sky onto the assailants ending the firefight instantly.

"Fucking hell!" We chorused as the Thunderbolt finished its run tearing up the area in front of us.

"Mike One Juliet, friendlies coming out of the treeline to your five," The female voice signed off for the last time before a charge of at least twenty burley soldiers emerged from the trees storming the village eliminating the remainder of the assailants.

Syrup turned to face the lead soldier whom he recognised as did everyone else but before he could react they spoke, "So Deuvea, what's the SITREP?" She spoke sounding like the position that she was fulfilling.

"Three men down, two stable, one unknown, but we need to bug out fast." He shot back scanning the area for possible reinforcements.

"Rog', Si get on that unknown, CZ get a perimeter, Deuvea and Kraut go with them and help with that ring," She ordered to the two heavily built men.

She lent over me looking into my eyes, "You okay?" She quizzed wiping the blood from my face with a piece of bandage. I just raised my hand giving her the OK, to which she went to work on Porthos with her assistant.

I just watched the soldier that she sent to work on One, he and Grom had managed to pull all the rubble off and were starting to see if they could help. They rolled One over in the process the skin on the front of his body peeled off, however One didn't react. The soldier immediately went down to check him over.

After a couple of minutes the two men stood up and turned to face the officer, "He's T4, we'll stretch him and let's get that evac in here."

"Shit!" The woman exclaimed from next to Porthos, she then sighed grabbing her radio, "Put him on a stretcher, I'll get us out." She continued before speaking loudly into her radio, I didn't listen I just watched as they placed One on the stretcher.

As he fell onto the canvas he shuddered, "Wait he's still there!" I attempted to shout.

Porthos just reached out to me, "He's gone mate." He tapped me on the shoulder as Grom and the soldier took One away to a pre-dictated LZ.

I could hear the sound of the Osprey's coming in overhead, their rotors whipped through the air making the treetops shiver with the down draft, "Come on, let's get to the LZ," The woman told me whilst hoisting me to my feet supporting my ribs and keeping me immobile in the left shoulder which helped my ribs.

I felt the down draft batter me as I was run up the ramp and sat on the seat opposite the motionless carcass of One, I spent the entire flight back in fixed on his bloodied remains. His face was tilted towards me with his eyes closed, however every bump in the ride made his eyelids jump up exposing his reddened eyes, which twitched with his head jumping this didn't aid my thinking he was still there.

The Osprey started it's descent onto the base which meant we were safely back in Liberia, the vehicle shuddered as it touched down on the dusty earth which the camp was situated on.

The ramp slowly dropped letting in a cloud of dust into the cargo hold, I couldn't see much through the dust storm but I did make out a figure from next to me grab the top of the stretcher and run off the vehicle. I waited as without my prosthesis I couldn't move anywhere with much dignity. I watched as the officer and Jaeger carried Porthos out of the Osprey. After about a minute a very large framed man wandered onto the ramp, I couldn't make out much as they approached until they split in two with one face I had really wanted to see.

"Mate, you look like shit that's been shat on," The droll Scot sounded off as he scooped me up under one of my arms whilst a smaller man with the Canadian flag on his lid did the otherside.

"Aye, but you have this fine wannabe Briton to thank for me not being dead as a door mouse," I thanked tapping Syrup on his helmet.

"Let's just get you stitched up and a new leg, you're a bit crap without one," Syrup laughed as we entered the dust storm which confronted us, "Fucking hell," Syrup complained taking in a large breath of crud and crap.

The female officer sprinted up to us, checking my ribs out and then pointed to the medical tent, "Get him in there, you'll be alright mucker."

**I hope you have enjoyed this story it's taken long enough to finish but it's there now so again thank you for the support and I will try to continue the series in the near future ****…..PEACE!**


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